Since my mother worked at the University of Vienna for a while and was asked in that context to help create a cover photo for the book "Translators Are the Workhorses of the Enlightenment," I had the unique opportunity to shoot the cover photo for such a one-of-a-kind book.

About the Book

The book is so unique because it has perforated pages. That means you can see several parts of the underlying pages. Yet, the text changes as you flip through it.

The Photo

The goal was to represent these cutouts as accurately as possible in the photo.

To prevent the pages from being too close together, I placed pencils between the pages and then held the book in such a way that all the pencils stayed in the book, which wasn't easy, because pencils tend to slip and can sometimes even be visible through the perforated pages.

Now it was important to create the right play of shadows and light to emphasize the depth of the book. "After all, who has ever seen a book with perforated pages?" My loyal and expensive ring light helped me with this.

The book is available as an e-book on Amazon, but I think, if anything, one should buy the physical book, because it is not just a book, it is a work of art.

I hope you like the photo and the book. Enjoy experiencing the book anew.