1. Callum Harrison
Historical Music Photographer Analysis
(Storm Thorgerson)
Storm Thorgerson was an English Graphic Designer; although he didn’t take all of his photos he
planned them. His work differs from the likes of more recent photographers such as Ami Barwell as
his images were mostly done by hand. The image above was taken in the 70’s and required 700 beds
and sheets to be done. This image today could easily be created using the Photoshop tool clone or
just simply copying and pasting.
When it came to planning the image they knew they needed hundreds of beds and sheets for the
shoot. Lance Williams who was the location manager managed to find 700 beds and the sheets. The
Image was taken by Bob Dowling with the help of his young assistant Tony May.
Storm Thorgerson took numerous Photos for Pink Floyds Album Covers. The image above was the
album cover ‘A momentary lapse of reason’. Storm Thorgerson’s distinctive and edgy style makes
him one of the most recognisable music photographers.
The image provokes a reaction from the viewer making them want to know if it is real or fantasy.
Using real elements in unreal ways in the effort to grab the viewers’ attention making them question
the photo and the meaning to it. The idea to use empty beds for the album came from the lyrics
‘visions of an empty bed’ from the song ‘Yet Another Movie’
There is good use of leading lines in this image, the beds seem to be arranged to resemble a river.
Looking further into the meaning of the image there are numerous references to different tracks

2. Callum Harrison
onthe album. For example the Dogs on the Beach to the right could be related to the song ‘The Dogs
of War’ while the person flying the hang glider could be related to the song ‘Learning to Fly’ the
maid standing and the man sitting on the bed would probably be related to other tracks or their
lyrics.
When I see the image I get a feeling of isolation, all of these beds and only one vacant. There is a lot
going on in the image but I don’t get a claustrophobic feeling this would be because the image was
taken in an open space. There is only one person on a single bed making the image seem less
crowded than it actually is.