Ingrid Yuille is a Vancouver-based photographer who has been working in large-scale photo-murals and photo-cut-outs for the past five years. When she was approached to do an album cover, it presented an opportunity to incorporate her own style or art-making into a commercial venture, a rare occurrence. I spoke with Yuille about the work she did for the group, Blue Northern, while she was busy preparing for her next exhibition, Urban Ambiguities (Presentation House, North Vancouver, August 2 to September 2, 1984.
Ingrid, you've done two album covers, which ones were they?
One for Blue Northern, which was the more interesting one because it involved incorporating my own work, my own concept. The other was for "The Little Ladies", a group of young girls (12-14) who sang popular music and did performing.
Did Blue Northern approach you?
Actually, Share Corsaut got them in touch with me. They asked her for a group of artists or names of people dealing with photography so they could go around looking at work. It was kind of neat because when Jim Wilson came over (he was the leader of the band), he looked at my work and it was nice talking with him. He was not just interested in a concept for the album, he was also interested in the actual artwork. We got to talking about different things you can do with cut-outs, about different directions I wanted to go.
He wanted to use the cut-outs?
He really liked my artwork initially, and we talked about it, and he said would I mind if he brought back Maureen Jack, who was the manager of the band, because he wanted to show her my work. At that point nothing was decided. I guess in looking at my work he started to see possibilities for himself and his group. So then he brought over Maureen Jack and we talked about the work. They verbalized how it might be interesting to make actual photo-cut-outs of the various people in the band and re-photograph them in an environment in a similar way to what I had been doing in my work at that time.
So it was decided that you would do the cover. Did you take each individual band member and do a photo shoot?
No, a woman who does a lot of rock 'n roll photography, Dee Lippingwell, did the initial portraits of the band. We had the negatives blown up and laminated professionally, which was really good because it is a lot of work and a lot of manual labour to go from the negative to the cut-out.
Even though you did not do the printing for those cut-outs, did you make the decisions of which negative to use?
Maureen Jack and I picked the individuals that we though would work best in relation to their personality and the kind of music they play. Then we cut them out [from the large, laminated murals] and hand-coloured them. Maureen knew what colours they wore a lot and the general ambience of the band. We then went around to various places - including Wreck Beach, Kits Park and Spanish Banks - where we set up different shots and I photographed them using a 35 mm camera.
You took the band members and the cut-outs all around the city?
Yes. We even did a couple of shots in a record store. We grouped them together and re-photographed them as one image. Then the record company looked at the various shots I did and they decided on the one done at Wreck Beach. Since the group was rock-a-billy and called Blue Northern, they picked the one that had he ocean and the mountains in the background. The cut-outs were photographed amongst the rocks, and it had an interesting effect because the rocks just flattened right out and it looked like everything else was flat and the photo-cuts were three-dimensional.
The cover had ten images - the five cut-outs and the five band members?
No, just the cut-outs. Later we did a studio session where I got the band members to pose with their cut-outs and w made more photographs, in colour. I did all that work, including the printing. Although the cover is just the cut-outs, the back has smaller prints of each band member interacting with themselves.
Some members used the instrument they played as props. But there was one guy, Billy Cowsill, who really didn't like his cut-out. He did a parody of how he hated his photographic image and literally buried it. He did a requiem using a lit candle and a Beatles' album while he was putting himself in a garbage can.
What did you actually give the record company?
At first, they got a print, but later on they asked for negatives. They made all the final decisions about which image to use and I really didn't have anything to do with them.
Did you get paid?
Yes, but not very much. I did get recognition of the album cover. I was more interested in the experience than the financial aspects at that time. They gave me three or four copies of the record. It was a good experience and I had no problems even though it was a verbal contract. I retained the copyright to the negatives and in fact, two of the images were shown at the Viennese Sessetion.
Is it different photographing for a commission, like an album cover, than doing your own work?
The interesting part of doing the Blue Northern album is that I am not a commercial photographer and I have a pretty high opinion of my work. I was dealing with other artists and whatever conflicts we had were due to the kind of egos that were involved. The group was used to dealing with commercial photographers, someone who has a set pattern down, and I don't. I am more free style, into, "Let's see what happens and take a chance". I think that made things a little sticky at times because of the lack of guidance on certain levels which I was just not prepared to give them because it would take away from my own creativity.
In my own work, when I have people interested with their cut-outs, I don't give them any directions. I think that made a few of the band members a little uncomfortable because when you're dealing with your own image, even though you are in the world of entertainment, all of a sudden you are dealing with yourself. It was interesting and it really taught me a lot about myself and my own ego. It showed me a I'm not a commercial photographer, I'm an artist; I've chosen to be an artist very consciously. I think that I would do it again, as long as I could have some creative control.
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