Anatomy of a cover

From pitch to print.

I think the most important thing for a cover is that the image on it stands out immediately, that it is striking in some way. The second thing I think about when choosing a cover is how well it explains our theme.

For the cover of our Double D's issue I knew there had to be boobs involved somehow. But sometimes boobs are too easy a subject, and it can come across cheap. I talked to photographer and mixed-media artist Caroline Mauxion about the possibility of combining photo with embroidery for the cover - Caroline's work is very sensual and soft, and her style always brings something quite distinctive. We talked and she agreed that there should be some subtext in the cover image beyond a nice set of breasts.

Working with that basic visual- a close, soft image of a girl in a hand-embroidered bra - we began looking for references to establish the kind of crop that would best deliver the image. Close cropping of the chest sounded good in theory, but ultimately a pair of breasts can only be so interesting to look at. Sometimes a bit of subtlety goes a long way.

Also part of our mission: a model search. Not every girl will be up for an underwear shoot, and then again not every girl has the proportions that you need for a photo like this. At the eleventh hour we reached out to Sophie, a local beauty with an aphrodite body, and our cover muse was made.

With a couple of beauty references on hand Amal created a fresh young look and we started shooting.
Sophie was placed next to a large window as Andreas assisted Caroline with a soft bounce of light from his flash.
After a month of preparing and redefining our vision for a cover, Sophie's bubble gum shot was cinched in about 20 minutes and we got one of our most evocative covers to date.

Tomorrow: see more shots from the series Caroline shot with cover model Sophie Tache Money.

- Shayl Prisk, Editor