Just another slightly quirky event in the life of a bird photographer. After yesterday’s marathon post I needed something shorter and more lighthearted for today.
About nine months ago I received a request from an author to use this photo of a Short-eared Owl in flight with a vole in its clutches. I told him that it wasn’t tack sharp and that I had other similar images that were much sharper but he needed a vertical composition for a book cover and said this one was perfect for his needs so we closed the deal.
He said it was for a novel he was writing titled “Brunello, Sex & Rock ‘n’ Roll” and that he wanted the image because “In a very important scene in the book an owl is on the hunt with a mouse/vole in her claws so your foto (short-eared owl 7893) would perfectly match”.
So after I received payment I sent him the photo and then completely forgot about it.
Until yesterday only minutes before I had to leave the house for a doctor’s appointment when my doorbell rang and there was a package on my front step containing a complimentary copy of the book. It’s a large book in hardcover with nearly 600 pages in small print and sure enough, my image is on the cover (sorry about the image quality, these are cell phone photos).
With a book that big, my photo on the cover and a title that at least piqued my curiosity I figured he must have something interesting to say so I looked forward to browsing through it when I returned home from my appointment.
But the damn thing is written in German and I can’t read a word of it.
The only words I recognize are some place names and the names of some prominent rock and roll stars, particularly members of the Rolling Stones. And the author obviously has a penchant for long sentences and huge paragraphs – some of his paragraphs are a full page or more long in relatively small print. I’d have a tough time reading it even if I could read German. It might be an interesting and engaging novel but I’ll never know.
Oh well, I try to look at the bright side. I sold another image and this time it was for a cover so I’m happy about that.
And I even learned the definition of “Brunello” but I had to look it up…
Ron
Addendum: My good friend Jim DeWitt provided an apparent explanation for the long sentences/paragraphs in this book in a comment on Facebook.
- Mark Twain, in “A Connecticut Yankee”: “Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”
Gotta love Mark Twain!
Ach du lieber!
LOVE the Twain quote!!!
Picture’s not bad either LOL.
Congrats on the cover and that was decent of him to send you a copy. very curious story.
Oh I just got a good laugh on this post. You need to find a person who reads German to read the story to you.
That would be a loooooong story, Trudy – almost 600 pages worth…
Ron, like Dick Harlow, I had to chuckle when you told us that the book is written in German. Congratulations on your photo appearing on the cover. Quite an interesting blog today. Thanks, Ron
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Alice. Thanks.
That is too funny. Guess you should have taken up German. It was very nice of Dietmar to send you a copy of the book though. Your famous…Well sort of lol.
Fun story.
It sure was nice of him, Jean. He didn’t have to do it and mailing that heavy book from Germany couldn’t have been cheap.
What a beautiful photo and fun blog!! Congrats on your book cover. Got a real “hoot” outta the Mark Twain quote 🙂 He’s one of my faves!
Joanne, I’ve loved Twain’s wit for decades – often biting and intelligent.
This is obviously a man of taste.
And the cover of that book would draw me in immediately. Despite my German father the book would be all Greek to me as well.
Thanks for the kind words about the image, EC.
Owl look forward to reading the English version. Although I don’t know Brunello, I have a passing acquaintance with the other two subjects.
Besides, with that cover, my coffee table will look much better!
Wally, Brunello is far too high class for me. Funny, just before your comment came in I was trying to decide where to keep that book and actually considered my coffee table as an option.
“In a very important scene in the book an owl is on the hunt with a mouse/vole in her claws…”
OK, this gives us something to work with.
Keef, Mick, Ronnie, Charlie, some of that cheap wine, the usual drugs, sex, rock n roll, and an owl holding a vole. And it’s IMPORTANT.
Let your mind roll freeeeee…..
I know it’s only rock n roll, but I like it. . .
You made me LOL, Martha – especially with your last line as the kicker. Perfect.
Except the part about the “cheap” wine. I understand that Brunello is quite expensive… 🙂
He had great taste in choosing your image for his cover. Love the Mark Twain quotation. You have a great memory to remember that. Another of Mark Twain’s observations also applies: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Ken, I love many of Twain’s writings, including some of his pithy observations of early Mormons and Brigham Young when he came out west. But to be honest I didn’t remember that quote until my friend Jim DeWitt included it in a comment on FB about this post.
I love that image on the cover ..the rest of the book would be greek to me, though not to by neice and her family…don’t get the connection, either….
Thanks, Patty. Guess we’ll have to read the book to find out. 🙂
My mind is in a loop on owls, voles, the Rolling Stones, and sex. I. Just. Can’t. lol
Me too. Throw a little wine into that loop and it gets even worse…
Wonderful tale. I was reminded of my grandfather when I saw the title of your post.
He would tell me “I know every language except Greek.”
I’d ask him “In German, can you say ‘I’m going to the store?'”
Invariably he’d reply “That’s Greek to me!”
I think I would have liked your grandfather, Kent!
I looked up Dietmar Haslinger and he is on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Outstanding photo even if a little soft as you say. Congratulations on the sale and making the front cover of a book. Wonder where he saw the photo and knew it was yours?
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Thanks, Everett. Almost without exception folks interested in purchasing an image find it using Google searches and then use my “contact” page to request image use. That’s one of many reasons I blog.
Here’s another blurb by the author himself:
“It`s not just a book about Brunello and Montalcino, it also features loads of storys about the Rolling Stones, the legendary „Hippie Trail” (from London to India in the 70s) , vintage cars, art and quite explicit Sex. The book will be out in German this autumn. I hope to get it translated into English and Italian asap!”
I can’t wait for the English version, although, despite the old saying, methinks the cover may be the best thing about the book.
Lyle, you may be right about your assessment of the cover vs the book. If it ever comes out in English maybe I’ll find out. Thanks very much for the blurb.
Too funny! 😂 I was off to a completely different race when I saw the title. I was thinking something along the lines of scientific names. Congrats on the cover! Now, when the weather’s too bad for photography, you’ll have something to do — learn to read German. 😜
Hell, I could have learned a half dozen languages in the last few months because of crappy weather! Thanks, Marty.
That’s hilarious! 🙂 Needed a giggle this morning! 🙂 The author was correct on needing the vertical composition! Would be nice to know what it’s about besides a type of wine – I had to look it up also…….. 😉 Like the photo even if it isn’t the sharpest…..
When I look the book title up online everything I see is also in German. Makes one curious, doesn’t it. Thanks, Judy. However, I did find this synopsis elsewhere.
“A fast journey between music, red wine, vintage cars, women, art and exotic places all over the planet in a story of a family from England and a family from Austria who travel between their homes in Montalcino, London, St. Polten, Darleejing, Marrakech and Kingston/Jamaica”.
Gotta give him credit for being consistent with relatively long sentences…
Interesting book title and it becomes even more so when trying to figure how an owl and vole fit in with it. But a cover is a cover…congrats! And it is a ShortEar!
“it becomes even more so when trying to figure how an owl and vole fit in with it”
That’s the primary source of my curiosity too, Kathy. Thanks.
In German, WOW, I had to chuckle at that comment! Congratulations – maybe the book will be translated into English! You should have many of your images in books, they are excellent and very educational, besides showing off your art! Well done!
Thanks, Dick. Quite a few of my images have been published in books but it’s not every day that I get a cover.