PhotoSynthesis: The Doors

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Los Angeles, 1969: A lot of the really iconic album covers I did in the late '60s and early '70s were done with a partner named Gary Burden. He was a graphic designer. So one day the Doors called Gary and me to talk to us about doing their cover and we said, "Well, do you have a title?" They said, "No, not really." We said, "Do you have any idea?" And just then, one of them said, "The other day I was driving through downtown L.A. and I saw this hotel that said 'Morrison Hotel.'"

We all trooped into the lobby, there was nobody there [but this] young kid behind the desk. I said, "We're just gonna take a couple of pictures. We'll just be a few minutes." He said, "Well, no you can't." I thought, "Well, I'll have them stand in front of the window." And just then, standing in front of the window looking through ... you see that light right under "-son"? That's the elevator numbers, and as the guy went in the little tiny elevator and pushed the button and disappeared, I just thought, "Whoa, quick, you guys -- run in there and just get behind the window and we'll just do this thing really quick." We took one roll of film and got out of there, and the guy never even knew we did it [laughs]!


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