Photographer Alan Sirulnikoff of Gibsons has a knack of finding unusual subjects for his images. Recently a photo that he took while hiking on a trail off B&K logging road in Roberts Creek has turned up on the cover of a best-selling book that is capturing reader attention, including reviews in The New York Times and The Globe and Mail.
The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel is subtitled The extraordinary story of the last true hermit, and it was recently listed as one of Indigo/Chapters best books of 2017 so far. It is the true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years – not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own.
Sirulnikoff’s image shows an abandoned car, hood open and pointing uselessly towards the sky, the vehicle almost hidden among the trees. He was surprised to see the image on the book’s cover, but it was not unexpected. He had sold the photo through an agency in London called Millennium Images.
“They are relatively small but seem to have a good reputation,” Sirulnikoff said, “concentrating on editorial subjects such as book covers. So simply a fortunate match in that the designer thought this image spoke to the story.”
