The Stranglers - *IV (Rattus Norvegicus) - Limited Edition Framed Print

Trevor Rogers' location shoot for The Stranglers' 1977 United Artists album cover, *Rattus Norvegicus* - shot with art director Paul Henry in a private house in Blackheath, south London.

The whole of the ground floor had been dressed in period, the entrance hall lined with stuffed animal heads, a long train carriage, a porcupine, unopened WWI letters still bearing their stamps. A fully dressed male mannequin lay at the centre of the compass-tiled hallway floor. Trevor set his Hasselblad up with a 50mm wide lens and a Polaroid back, shooting straight through the front door into the hall and beyond, chasing the depth of that long sightline through to the staircase and landing window at the rear.

He bathed the front of the hall in red light and the rear in green - opposing colours on the spectrum, used deliberately to push the band forward and separate them from the background. On the cover shot, Hugh stands at the back lit in red, the green glow behind him picking him out from the depths of the house. The full band was shot together too - Dave seated, the other three standing, JJ holding a pair of spears, Hugh's hand resting in the naked child mannequin's - with the dressed mannequin positioned at the landing window for maximum depth. Strong make-up gave the band their pronounced, theatrical look; correct exposure times left the male mannequin sitting in silhouette, contre-jour, at the far end of the hall. Shot on Hasselblad. 

An Estate Original, finished in a black wooden frame with glass - 40×40cm.

A limited, numbered edition of 24, each print bearing the Trevor Rogers Photography stamp.

Photograph © Trevor Rogers. All rights reserved.