Elisabeth Ansley (center) poses for a portrait with her daughters/models Chaeli, 20, Niamh, 8, and Georgia, 17 in Plymouth, Minn. Ansley turned a late-breaking photography hobby into a surprising career.

Elisabeth Ansley (center) poses for a portrait with her daughters/models Chaeli, 20, Niamh, 8, and Georgia, 17 in Plymouth, Minn. Ansley turned a late-breaking photography hobby into a surprising career.

Photographer has it covered

  • By Kristin Tillotson Minneapolis Star Tribune
  • Friday, February 12, 2016 2:06pm
  • Life

PLYMOUTH, Minn. — When Elisabeth Ansley says she’s between covers, she doesn’t mean her sheets and duvet.

Ansley shoots cover photographs for mass-market paperback books, often from her home in a newish Plymouth, Minnesota, housing development, using her three daughters as models. She has shot nearly 500 covers, published in 25 countries, in less than five years. Her latest work, for the thriller “Private Vegas,” co-authored by top-selling James Patterson, came out Jan. 26.

Ansley, 44, has created cover shots for other big names, including Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Mary Higgins Clark, Danielle Steel, David Baldacci and Anna Quindlen. Most have been for European editions. But the new Patterson — a guy so important to major player Hachette Book Group that they have a whole department, including three art directors, devoted just to him — is for the substantially larger American readership, and her biggest score to date.

“He’s the Holy Grail,” said Ansley, a soft-spoken, laid-back presence who can whip up a nuanced cover-shot mood by artfully draping curtains over the lights in her upstairs bathroom. Her basement laundry room contains a wardrobe of elaborately embellished satin gowns culled from vintage-store bins.

Ansley’s success story reads like something from one of the adventure romance novels that make up one category of her business. A self-taught shooter, she wandered into her career after discovering a passion for landscape photography in Australia, where her husband, Christopher, was temporarily working.

That led to an online portrait business, and her first book cover, for a self-published Australian author.

Criticism of her portrait work actually led to her surprising profession.

“I was often accused of doing photos that looked unnatural, more like dramatic storytelling — like book covers — than realistic portraits,” she said. “I really like telling stories, so the penny dropped and I realized I should be doing just that.”

She began researching agents who sold work to publishers, found one in England who looked prosperous and prestigious, and gave him a call.

“He must have been feeling charitable that day, because he took me on before I even knew he was the guy,” she said.

Looks easy, isn’t

“The guy” is Michael Mascaro, owner of Arcangel Images, a leading supplier to the publishing industry.

“It can take photographers a long time to get to the point where they just ‘see’ covers when they are shooting images,” said Mascaro. “Liz has developed this ability — it’s become second nature.”

Like many talents that might seem easy to master, Ansley’s is based on a lot of practice, research and developing an eye.

“To be able to get to this stage, she has studied international trends and other photographers’ images,” Mascaro said. “She is also constantly improving.”

Ansley grew up in Arizona. The family moved to Minnesota in 2003, but has lived around the world because of Christopher’s job — which helps with her ability to shoot salable images for different markets.

One of her best resources is the Internet, which has brought together a worldwide niche community of unsung cover creators like her. Through social media and fan pages (Ansley’s is on Facebook), they trade ideas and support.

“We’re in competition with each other, but we’re also the only ones who understand what each other is doing,” she said.

Ansley figures she clears about $200 a cover, though the Patterson job paid quite a bit more.

“I’m one of the few who makes a living at it,” she said. “I make about as much as a teacher.”

Twirling expertise

Ansley’s most frequent models are daughters Chaeli, 20, Georgia, 17, and Niamh, 8, with other friends and family members filling in when older folks are needed. Most do it in exchange for some photos and the knowledge that they’ve modeled for a book cover.

So what skills does this particular type of modeling require?

“There’s a lot of twirling,” said Georgia. “And running away while looking over your shoulder.”

Sounds simple, except when an antebellum look is required, and Mom wrestles one of the girls into a hoop skirt with bustle.

The girls are good-natured if a bit blasé about helping their mother. It’s become an expected chore, like dusting or drying the dishes, only more fun. But Dad remains steadfast in his abstinence from posing. Ansley pays professional models now and then, especially when a certain period must be invoked.

“I have to try to look sad a lot,” said Niamh, a chatty, high-energy girl. “I got so used to it that once when some people were smiling for a family picture I told them, ‘No, don’t smile,’ like Mom tells me.”

Simple and bold

If Ansley gets on the Patterson bandwagon, it could ensure steady work for years to come in a field she says is fickle and getting more crowded. Between the several new titles that Patterson produces each year (some co-written mostly by others) and the repackaging of already-published work, Hachette creative director Anne Twomey estimates they put out at least one title a month under his name.

To publishers, the most important aspect of a cover image is how well it helps sell the book.

Ansley typically shoots subjects from the back, or in silhouette, or both, because readers may prefer an indistinct image onto which they can project their own fantasies.

“We don’t want to spell out exactly what a character looks like, because readers like to picture it themselves,” said Twomey.

Ansley has learned that diverse but generic imagery, uncluttered backgrounds and using a lot of reds and blues, help keep her work in demand. But when she’s got three models right there at home living under the same roof, she can’t resist showing them off, too.

Besides, she said, “it’s like with advertising. Women just sell better than men.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

A stroll on Rome's ancient Appian Way is a kind of time travel. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves on the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient superhighway

Twenty-nine highways fanned out from Rome, but this one was the first and remains the most legendary.

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Inside Elle Marie Hair Studio in Smokey Point. (Provided by Acacia Delzer)
The best hair salon in Snohomish County

You voted, we tallied. Here are the results.

The 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV has room for up to six or seven passengers, depending on seat configuration. (Photo provided by Kia)
Kia’s all-new EV9 electric SUV occupies rarified air

Roomy three-row electric SUVs priced below 60 grand are scarce.

2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD (Photo provided by Toyota)
2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD

The compact SUV electric vehicle offers customers the ultimate flexibility for getting around town in zero emission EV mode or road-tripping in hybrid mode with a range of 440 miles and 42 mile per gallon fuel economy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.