I was given a brief asking to create six images based on the opening lines of a choice of books.

I am a big fan of Ralph Steadman‘s work and illustrations so I chose the beginning of Hunter S. Thompson’s ‘Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas’…

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”

Having been involved in Secret Wars at the time I wanted to take that bold, black and white style and try to create a three-dimensional environment.

The sequence depicts a desert scene where reality begins to become distorted with the sky melting, inanimate objects coming to life, oil pumps exploding and general chaos. The viewer looks at his hands to check whether what he sees is real until he falls on his back in disbelief.

Photographs taken by Cormac McGloin.

Rich.