Inspired By George Lois?

When Bloomberg Businessweek Photo Editor Karen Frank told me that they wanted to duct tape Richard Branson to their cover I was excited because it had that thinking-outside-the-box approach that my hero George Lois had. When Lois designed the Esquire covers of the 1960s there was a sense of adventure and play that one rarely sees in a mainstream magazine, even today. My favorite thing that Lois sometimes did was manipulate the actual 2-D aspect of a cover – drawing a “Stalin moustache” with a marker on a photograph of Stalin’s daughter, or showing a hand reaching in to dry tears on a photographic print for a JFK memorial cover.

I had the honor of doing a sitting with George Lois in 2003 for the London Telegraph weekend magazine.  He was a fun and game subject, but more importantly, he became something of a mentor to me, including writing me a couple of plugs when I was trying to get a project off the ground.  Here is part of what he wrote:

“Every Chris Buck photo is a mystery, a pervading, off-putting idea, always conceptual, often visceral, and sometimes unfathomable.” 

Top Image: Bloomberg Businessweek, September 26-October 2, 2011 issue

Bottom Image: Outtake of George Lois session, February 2003