From the beginning of the creative process, Aura Bakker wanted an ethereal representation of herself on the cover. She also wanted a more representational portrait within the album art. The rest she left to me. After listening to the music, I had a clear visual concept where the stars in the night sky feel and appear almost as an ocean, dynamic, in motion and alive.
We booked a house in Joshua Tree, CA and on a clear night, began shooting a number of long exposures with a Leica M6 rangefinder, 800 iso film often utilizing an indispensable Leica 50mm Noctilux lens.
Joshua Tree is such a magical place, and because of that, the subject of billions of photos. I wanted to capture both the Joshua Tree landscape and stars in a way that felt like the “alien landscape” that it is, while not being immediately recognizable. Whether I was successful or not, is in the eye of the beholder.
The cover is a long, single exposure where Aura held and moved position and I “painted” light on different parts of the scene. The portrait shot within the album, utilizes the same technique except that she’s wearing a warm coat and blanket after freezing for the cover shot. I used post effects on a number of shots of the stars and combined the shots and stars to create the “desert sea”.
