Marina Marinshe was one of the photographers chosen by Ian Fleming Publications in collaboration with Algoritam Publishing (Zagreb, Croatia) to shoot the first James Bond book covers in Croatia. She produced the covers for the books Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace (short story collection) and Live and Let Die. We are delighted to welcome her in from the cold to discuss the project.

How did this collaboration on the covers come about?

The editor of the Croatian James Bond Book Editions, Vladimir Cvetkovic Sever, is a well know book translator in Croatia and was following my photography on my photoblog. He liked my photography very much, so he decided to show my photographs to the General Director of Algoritam Publishing and present me to him as a main photographer for this project. I was glad that he accepted me quickly, but the final word was from the Ian Fleming family.

Luckily, they liked my cinematic style of photography and they gave the “final” yes! That was big decision for them because they never before allowed to anyone into the world of book publishing to recreate scenes from Ian Fleming’s James Bond Books as photography for the book covers. I was the first one photographer who created portraits of James Bond characters in the history. The first cover of “Casino Royale” with portrait of Vesper Lynd is a collectible item now and I’m proud to see these books in the top sections of the Croatian book stores and libraries marked as “Top Read” and “Best Seller” for the last 8 years in the row.

What was your brief for each one and how did you approach the creative process?

I had to stick to the books very strictly. Every cover girl who passed the audition was shot in poses true to the spirit of the James Bond girl as Ian Fleming described them. Every single detail, pose, look, decor and even shade of lipstick was picked and recreated to what was written. A big help was Vladimir’s huge knowledge of the history of those times as well as his knowledge of the “James Bond World” since he is an avid reader and huge fan of James Bond. General Director of Algoritam Publishing, Never Anticevic, was our “driver” and person who advised on the whole process and made sure that everything ran smoothly.

For the first book “Casino Royale” we picked location “Hotel Esplanade Zagreb” as the interior from the book where we recreated one scene when Vesper Lynd is meeting Mister James Bond for the first time. I shot the scene for the cover in one empty room of the Hotel Esplanade situated on the second floor.

For the second book we picked the “Jadran Film Studios Zagreb” where we recreated three options for the second book because Never Anticevic decided to have a “people’s choice” game, open to the public to vote for the best cover.

The cover for the third book “Live and Let Live” was shot on the Island Hvar. On that photo shoot I worked as makeup artist too.

What was the most challenging aspects of the shoots?

The most challenging aspects of the shoots was to recreate atmosphere and emotions of those moments described in Ian Fleming’s work. I think that I did my best work on the cover of the “Live And Let Die” book. The portrait of Vesper Lynd is my second favourite.

Are you now a literary Bond fan?

Yes, he was brilliant writer! Very talented and skilled at describing his ideas and creating characters that can move generations!

Will there be any more covers?

I think it will be … 🙂

Incidental Intelligence

Marina Filipovic Marinshe is portrait & fine art photographer. She has worked with bands, publishers and companies for past 10 years to enhance their image and brand through crisp, original and immersive imagery.

View more of Marina’s Bond images here and follow Marina on Twitter.

[Editor’s note: The other photographers who shot for this collection include Hrvoje Radeljic’s Moonraker and Belizar Valic’s Diamonds are Forever.]