Mark Blake's book, Pigs Might Fly, states that Hipgnosis's image on Obscured by Clouds was the result of one of the 35mm slides from La Vallée, (being viewed for a potential cover), being jammed into the film projector and the image becoming blurred. It depicts an out of focus image of one of the characters in a tree reaching out picking fruit from its branches.
A clear image of the actual picture used for the sleeve can’t be obtained from the film itself, with only a screenshot from the fruit picking scene (starting 55:49) offering up a rough idea of what the slide would have looked like.
I’ve searched previously for a clean version of the blurred image without success, (does one circulate?) so thought this an interesting next best thing.
La Vallée screenshot
A clear image of the actual picture used for the sleeve can’t be obtained from the film itself, with only a screenshot from the fruit picking scene (starting 55:49) offering up a rough idea of what the slide would have looked like.
I’ve searched previously for a clean version of the blurred image without success, (does one circulate?) so thought this an interesting next best thing.
La Vallée screenshot
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