How The Morrison Hotel Album Cover Can Change Your Life
a lesson from the photo shoot behind The Doors’ album cover
“Either have no expectations or have all expectations.”
It’s tough for me to admit this, but this is a lesson I wish I learned much earlier in life. At least before my forties. I want to use one of my favourite backstories of all time to illustrate these words of wisdom.
The Morrison Hotel
As a teenager growing up in Northeastern Ohio during the late 70s into the early 80s, I listened to a lot of rock and roll music. In fact, when I go back to visit from time to time, I hear the same playlists on the local FM radio stations that I heard in 1979.
One of my favourite bands at the time, like many others my age, was The Doors. Interestingly enough, I was infatuated with their album covers just as much as their music. Needless to say, they don’t make album covers like that anymore.
I was so into their album covers that I drew renditions of them for my art class assignments. For example, I replicated the Morrison Hotel’s entire in-sleeve photograph portrait of the whole band using black ink on art paper.
Recently, the front cover of the Morrison Hotel album showed up on a blog I follow. I decided to research the story behind the notorious album cover. It turns out that the front cover shot was totally unplanned, and it almost never happened.
When legendary rock and roll photographer, Henry Diltz showed up with The Doors at the Morrison Hotel, he was told there was ‘no room at the inn’ — almost literally. The hotel attendant told Diltz that he couldn’t take any photographs inside the hotel without the permission of the owner. And the owner was not around. Can you imagine that? How would you like to be the one going down in history as ruining an epic rock album cover?
So Diltz did what most people and I would do, attempt to make the best of the situation by shooting what he could outside the hotel. But we all know he got the shot. So how did he do it?
Diltz noticed the attendant get into the elevator. Once the doors were shut, he told the band to go in and sit at the window. Diltz shot a whole roll of film with The Doors in the window without the attendant ever knowing. In fact Diltz says, “Right on the cover, you can see the lit elevator numbers right under the ‘son’ in ‘Morrison’”.
Conclusion
Just like most of you, I make plans for photo shoots, when I get an article assignment, or for a trip to the supermarket, etc. When (not if) plans don’t go as expected, in the heat of the moment, we often forget that we have a choice. We can either freak-out and resist the inevitable change, or, we can welcome the unexpected — as a gift. Having all expectations or no expectations helps remind me that I have options — that I have this choice.
By the way, I won first place in an art competition once. The piece that won? It was a portrait of Jim Morrison.
References
- Henry Diltz, “Photographer Henry Diltz Presents Classic Shots Of The Doors At The Standard Hotel (INTERVIEW, PHOTOS),” Huffington Post, August 15, 2012, accessed January 21, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/photographer-henry-diltz-_n_1773339.html.
