Bare feet, Luis Alvarenga and my novel cover

This ‘self-portrait’ photograph was taken by the young Portuguese photographer Luis Alvarenga,  who likes to record his travels around the World with images of his feet, the part of the body designed to allow us to travel. Here he is on a rock in the Algarve, Portugal. Feet also ‘plant’ us on the earth and, if we focus on them, let us feel the spirit of ‘place’. Hippie jargon, you might think,  but I believe in it, mostly practising my martial arts barefoot at home in my garden or wherever I am on my travels.

 In the 1960s, bare feet became a symbol of liberation and freedom from society’s restraints. It was for all of this that Luis’ photograph became the cover shot for my just published novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love.

I love the image and especially, the colours of Luis’ photograph which makes a handsome cover for my novel, stylishly designed by my publishers, Ward Wood Publishing.  I can feel the heat of that rock but also a certain vulnerability in the feet exposed on such a rough surface. The image is perfect, in my opinion, for Stephen Dearsley’s gradual and difficult liberation. Another of Luis’  ‘self-portraits’ shows him standing on an inviting stretch of sandy Portuguese beach at Montegordo. Lovely shot though it is, for me, it is the rock photograph that better expresses the feeling of my novel because, the beach has always been one of the few places feet have always been allowed to go bare.

Here is Luis again, this time in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, where he first discovered that British beaches can be considerably colder than Portuguese ones.

Here he is in Antigua against a very green lake.

Having spent some time discussing the cover photograph with Ward Wood Publishing, I got to know the picture and, I guess, Luis’ feet very well so it was good to finally discover who Luis Santos is and what he looks like above foot level.

He is currently living in Reading, in the UK where he makes his living as a professional photographer most recently specialising in travel and live music photography.

This is one of his favourite music shots taken when he feel in love with this guitar seen at the 2013 Oxjam Reading Festival. I love the colour co-ordination here.

This is Patrick Wolf, the young London singer-songwriter, a musician much admired by Luis. The photograph taken with a vintage 80-200 lens that he had just bought for the occasion marked his debut as a fully accredited music gig job. He tells me that he was nervous when he first had to go on stage at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall “but in the end everything turned out great, even the pictures!”

Here are two of his favourite travel photographs, above, the Monument To The Discoveries, Lisbon, the city where he was at university, and, below, this beautifully textured image of a beach in Maldives.

It was good to see his other work and to say hello to Luis because there is, I’ve just discovered,  a special relationship between a writer and the creator of his book’s cover. It was also good to share some of Luis’ enthusiasm for his chosen artform – he is obviously a young man with the World, quite literally, at his feet.

If you want to see more of Luis Alvarenga’s (sometimes also known as Luis Santos) work or to contact him, here is a link to his websites:
http://www.thelivephotographer.com/
http://1-luis-santos.artistwebsites.com/

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STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL
My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:
…or from Book Depository:

…or from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Stephen%20Dearsley’s%20Summer%20Of%20love

feature=mhee

COLIN BELL’S PUBLICATIONS:

Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love
Ward Wood Publishing
October 30, 2013

http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm

Genius Floored: Uncurtained Window
Soaring Penguin Press
June 15, 2013
Poetry anthology

http://www.soaringpenguinpress.com/publications/poetry/genius-floored-whispers-in-smoke/

Genius Floored: Whispers in Smoke
Soaring Penguin Press
June 6, 2014
Poetry anthology

http://www.soaringpenguinpress.com/publications/poetry/genius-floored-whispers-in-smoke/

Reaching Out
Cinnamon Press
December 2012
Poetry and short story anthology

http://www.cinnamonpress.com/product-item/reaching-out/

Tic Toc
A Kind Of A Hurricane Press
June 2014
Poetry anthology

http://www.kindofahurricanepress.com/2014/06/tic-toc-is-now-available.html

The Blotter
The Blotter Magazine Inc.
November 2009
Three pages of poetry in the American South’s unique, free, international literature and arts magazine.

http://www.blotterrag.com/back-issues/2009-11.pdf


The Fib Review
Musepie Press
My Fibonacci poetry has appeared in this journal from 2009 until the present

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/writers.html

Shot Glass Journal
Muse Pie Press
My poetry has appeared in various issues of this short form poetry journal

http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/writers.html


Every Day Poets Magazine
Every Day Poets
I have various poems of the day published in this 365 days a year poetry magazine.

http://www.everydaypoets.com/?s=Colin+Bell

In The Night Count The Stars
Bittersweet Editions
March 1, 2014
An “uncommon anthology” of images, fragments, stories and poetry.

http://www.bittersweeteditions.com/in-the-night-count-the-stars.html#%2EU8ZFXY1dXoo

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