![]() “Thus they have the album to this very day still wrapped in black plastic and have never seen the burning man on the front. ![]() “I have heard it said that some folks carefully cut the edge with a blade and slid the record out,” Thorgerson said. The graphic depicted a twist on the cover image: a mechanical shaking of hands. A graphic designed by Hipgnosis’s George Hardie - the same man responsible for Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” prism design - was the only identifying mark on the album’s exterior as it was originally displayed on store shelves. Furthermore, several photo outtakes have been made public in the interim.Īs a final act of commitment to their theme and a bold coupe d’grâce, Thorgerson and Powell remarkably chose to conceal the fruits of their labor inside an opaque black wrapper. Outtakes from the “Wish You Were Here” cover photo shootĭecades later, with so many reissues of the album having been released, which photo corresponds to which edition of the album, is uncertain - to us, at least. They can be distinguished by one’s leaning forward and down by the flaming man and the other’s leaning back and up by the flaming man, who is consumed by much more flame than in the alternate shot. Another, using 120 transparency, appeared on the U.S. One, shot using 35mm color transparency film, was used for the album’s U.K. Two photographs from the shoot were used for the album cover. “It was pretty easy to do, not too life threatening, and paid well,” he said. In the end, it was just another job for Rondell. If this is true, we presume some darkroom trickery must have been applied to un-reverse the number 20 that is seen on the building in some versions of the photo. ![]() Hipgnosis then reversed the image in the darkroom. To allow Rondell to appear on the right with Rogers on the left, Rondell actually posed on the left, Rogers on the right, and the two shook hands using their left hands. “Luckily, I got it in the can.”Īs told by Thorgerson and Powell in “100 Best Album Covers,” wind direction presented a problem. No more,'” according to Powell, who was behind the camera. “He fell to the ground, absolutely smothered with foam and blankets and everything like that, and he got up, said, ‘That’s it. “When it gets in your face, you’re going to move.” “There’s a funny thing about fire,” Rondell said. “The flames were blown back and ignited his real moustache for an instant,” Thorgerson recalled. Though he was protected by a fire-retardant layer underneath his business suit - which extended over his head underneath a wig - Rondell didn’t make it out of the shoot unscathed.Īfter being dowsed with gasoline, sparked up and taking position, Rondell withstood 15 shots before being singed. “But a partial is basically pretty safe, pretty easy one to do,” he added, “in most cases.” “I’d been doing a lot of fire work in those days, and I had the special suits and all this stuff for fully enveloped fire,” Rondell explained in the 2012 documentary “Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here.” Rondell arguably had the tougher job of being lit on fire, which, no surprise, presented challenges. (pictured) and Danny Rogers (inset) to pose for the photo. Hipgnosis hired Hollywood stuntmen Ronnie Rondell Jr. ![]() (Or is it?) A shot not used for the original album showed a swimmer - the same model who posed as the faceless pitchman - doing the crawl stroke in an ocean of sand devoid of water. They continued the theme of absence throughout the album’s back cover, inside gate-fold and liner bag with photos of a faceless pitchman hawking a transparent LP record, a diver making no splash, and a floating veil masking nothing. And the flames? A visualization of people’s tendency to remain emotionally withdrawn (or absent) for fear of “being burned.” Hipgnosis explained a handshake is often seen as an empty gesture, void of meaning or purpose. The team devised a concept for the cover involving two men - record execs fashioned in a style suggested by the album’s “Have a Cigar” - shaking hands to seal some unknown deal. “Lengthy discussions, particularly with the band, much internal focusing, and repeated exposure to the haunting brilliance of ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ led inexorably to one point, led to one theme, in fact to the one word, ‘absence.'” “‘Wish You Were Here’ was a different story altogether,” he added. ![]() Or what the album may really be about, even if the Floyd haven’t said it, or don’t yet know it.” “We discuss what the music feels like to us. “We just sit in a very ordinary room, listen to Floyd music, and talk,” Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson explained in his 1997 book, “Mind Over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd.” The concept started for design team Hipgnosis, as it often did, with close examination of the music. ![]()
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