Scarpati Interview: The Scorpions Deadly Sting Cover

Interview With John Scarpati

Introduction

You may not know the name John Scarpati, but I’m positive you’re familiar with his work. He’s a photographer who has done hundreds of album covers, including a number of which became gold and platinum records. Take a brief moment to look over the list on Scarpati's Wikipedia page (note: Wikipedia only has a partial list of his covers). He’s also published a book of some of his images from the 80s called Cramp Slash & Burn: When Punk and Glam Were Twins.

Scarpati is not just talented and extremely personable, he’s also a friend of mine (because I only hang around the nicest people). So I spent a few hours talking with him about some of the work he’s done and he graciously answered my questions. Below is part of our conversation on the making of the Scorpion’s Deadly Sting album cover.

Interview

Question: What is a typical job like?
Answer: There are no typical jobs. One of my favorite aspects of photography is problem solving and that no two jobs are the same. Especially if you’re doing concept photography, you never know what it’s going to take to build and bring a concept to fruition. It could be location, studio, props, getting the right team together. You can never be completely ready for a shoot and that’s what excites me about what I do. every day is a new adventure with a new set of problems.

Question: Tell me about shooting the Scorpions “Deadly Sting” cover. What kinds of problems did you have and how did you solve them?
Answer: For the Scorpions cover we needed 300 live African Emperor scorpions as part of the set.

Question: How do you find something like that?
Answer: Turns out there’s a guy named Jules Sylvester  who supplies reptiles and insects for movies and photo shoots, so I worked with him. He brought us a few different kinds of scorpions and several hundred of each so that we could pick the ones we wanted.

Question: So then Jules handled the scorpions for you?
Answer: You actually need one certified scorpion wrangler for each hundred scorpions on the set. This is required for insurance, so we had 3 animal wranglers on the set.

Question: How did all those scorpions do on the set?
Answer: They got really aggressive under the lights because the tungsten lights are very warm. So we had a small window of opportunity to work with them before they became too aggressive and feisty.

Question: Is there a way to calm them down? Or how did you handle that?
Answer: They calm down when they’re cooler, so we had to cool them off in the refrigerator.

Question: Was this a special refrigerator unit?
Answer: It was a regular kitchen refrigerator. We unpacked everything to make room and the wranglers put the scorpions in containers so we could cool them down. We went back and forth between the refrigerator and the set. We had about 5 minutes under the lights before the scorpions became too aggressive and all hell broke loose where they tried to get out of the set.

Question: Did the scorpions naturally get into the poses you wanted or did you have to work with the temperature as they became more aggressive?
Answer: If they’re calm, you can blow on them with a straw to get them into the hero pose. So we had this small window of time where the wranglers were blowing on them and I had move the camera into the set and set the shot.

Question: What about the girl? Was she on the set with these scorpions?
Answer: The girl in that shoot was a lot safer than you might think. She was photographed separately against a 20 foot by 20 foot sky backdrop and the scorpions on her were ones that had died in transit. We superglued the dead scorpions into aggressive positions and placed them on the model’s body. Then we used photoshop to put the image of the model into the picture with the live scorpions.

Question: Were you glad to be done working with scorpions when the shoot was over?
Answer: Actually, I picked the biggest scorpion on the set, which turns out was also the oldest, and I kept him for a pet for about three years until he died. It was a normal lifespan for a scorpion because he was already old when I got him, but I named him Klaus, after the lead singer of the Scorpions.


Finally, take 2 minutes to watch this short video on the making of Scarpati's book Cramp, Slash & Burn. Some of the canvases will be on display at Bongo Java in Nashville during the month of May.



Cramp, Slash & Burn... "When Punk and Glam were Twins" from john scarpati on Vimeo.

More about Scarpati:

He wanted to be a painter.
He wanted to be a rock star.
He ended up being neither – and both.

Links:
Scarpati’s Website
On LinkedIn
Scarpati's Wikipedia Page

More Info on Cramp, Slash, and Burn:
CSB Website
CSB on Facebook
Online Book Preview
thebook@crampslashandburn.com

Links for Scarpati's Book Eyes Wide Open:
Online Book Preview
Eyes Wide Open on Facebook

Book Review: Insane City by Dave Barry

I received a free advance review copy of Dave Barry’s new book Insane City, which released yesterday in hardcover.  Here’s an excerpt from the description of the book:

“Seth Weinstein knew Tina was way out of his league in pretty much any way you could imagine, which is why it continued to astonish him that he was on the plane now for their destination wedding in Florida. The Groom Posse had already sprung an airport prank on him, and he’d survived it, and if that was the worst of it, everything should be okay. Smooth sailing from now on.

As it turns out, it’s not smooth sailing, it’s more like a trip on the Titanic. And the water below him is getting deeper every minute. By the end, amid gunfire, high-speed chases, and mayhem of the most unimaginable sort, violent men will fall, heroes will rise, and many lives will change.

Seth’s, not least of all.”

I’m a fan of Dave Barry’s nonfiction. How could I not be, considering that we share the same hobby of making up bands names?  However, I confess that I have never read any of his fiction before this book.

My first impression is that this reads more like a movie instead of a book, especially given the way that the dialog is written and the scenes described. In fact, this would probably make a great summer movie for people who enjoy films such as Bridesmaids and The Hangover. There are so many wacky things taking place and the plot moves constantly. Throughout the book Dave put his characters in some hilarious, not to mention embarrassing, situations.

While some of the general plot is predictable, most of the specific (and often bizarre) situations are not and the book is full of one liners that will make you laugh out loud. While this isn’t great literature or a book with thought provoking insights, it continues to do what Dave Barry does best: makes you laugh.

Notes on The Treadmill of Life

Sometimes it feels like we’re stuck on the treadmill of life and it can feel like we’re continually running and going nowhere, so it’s important to maintain a healthy perspective at all times. I’ve made a list of reminders for myself to help with this. These may be useful to some of you, so here they are:

1. The treadmill is there for you: you are not there for the treadmill.  Don’t let it consume you.

2. Trials and tribulations are like putting the treadmill on an incline.  These moments will be painful, but your butt will thank you later for the awesome shape it’s in. (Note: insert “soul” in place of “butt” to make this sound more intellectual).

3. If you don’t get off the treadmill once in awhile you’re going to get a serious cramp.  Vacations prevent cramps.  In addition, your cramps impact everyone in the gym of life - so don’t be selfish and work yourself into painful spasms that cause you to disrupt the world with your annoying screams. You really do need a rest once in awhile.

4. Take time to think about where you are and where you’re going. The treadmill doesn’t actually move. It’s a process and not a destination, so slow down.  You won’t get there any faster than the guy on the treadmill next to you - running faster will only shorten your time. 

5. Cross training makes you a better person. Try something new once in awhile.

Like exercise, life is something that you shouldn’t just talk about. Get out there and live it.