Mr. Eaves and His Magic Camera
Broken camera may mean millions for 70-year old man
By Cyndee DuHadaway
Ever get so ticked with technology you wanted to toss it in the lake? For Farrell Eaves, accidentally dropping his digital camera into the Pecos River led to a book contract.
When author Cindy Cashman stumbled upon the surreal, kaleidoscopic photographs snapped with the damaged camera and heard the incredible story behind those images, she knew there was a book in it.
“Dropping an expensive camera into the river was an accident, but it was the perfect example of something beautiful coming from misfortune,” Cashman said. “The moment I saw the photos and heard the story, I could see the photographs compiled in a book.”
Cashman did a search for Farrell’s telephone number, called him and introduced the idea of putting the photographs in a book.
“Then I called Andrews McMeel, a nationally recognized publisher I’ve worked with before, and within 30 days, we had a contract,” Cashman said.
If the name Cashman seems familiar, it should. Cindy is one of the most successful self-publishers in the world, selling well over a million books under a number of pseudonyms. Cashman applied the lessons she’s learned in the publishing business to launch Eaves’s new career as an author.
The unlikely story began when Eaves attended a photography conference headed by Bruce Dale, a former National Geographic photographer. During a break in the conference, Eaves trekked to the winding Pecos to snap some shots with his $1,600 Nikon CoolPix 990 camera
Eaves said he was concentrating on the textures of a swirling current in the Pecos’s muddy waters when he knocked his Nikon straight into the water. He figured he’d ruined the expensive camera, but the haunting, variegated images produced by the damaged camera led Eaves to his first book contract, numerous speaking engagements and book signings, all at the age of 70.
After Eaves fished his camera out of the river, he and Dale attempted to dry it in some unorthodox ways. They blew it with bottled air, baked it in the hot summer sun and left it on the gas stove near the pilot light at night. No matter what they did, the lens, viewfinders and monitor remained clouded in a murky Pecos fog. Frustrated and certain his camera was ruined, Eaves tied it to his windshield wiper and drove through New Mexico in the hot sun and dry air.
To his surprise, the lens and viewfinder cleared and Eaves took his first post-dunking photographs. When he looked into the viewfinder, colors streaked and eerie, beautiful auras penetrated his subjects.
Instead of tossing the camera out and investing in a new one that takes pictures the way a camera is supposed to, Eaves was fascinated by the mysterious and surreal images he saw through his lens. “Ordinary cameras see what we see,” Eaves said. “The outer shell or skin of the world around us. My camera and I peel away this covering.”
And Dale agrees. “I did not push Mr. Eaves into the Pecos River and it wasn’t my idea to tie his camera to the windshield wiper of a speeding car,” Dale said. “All I can claim is that he is a student of mine and I did lecture him on the merits of serendipity.”
That serendipity, or happy accident, came in the form of a book titled Mr. Eaves and his Magic Camera, which is a compilation of the photos and a fitting metaphor for being open for all of life’s possibilities.
“To date, Farrell has shot more than 15,000 magical images, each one different, each one unpredictable, each one beautiful,” said Cashman. “A lot like life itself.”
For more information, contact 512-261-5800, or e-mail [email protected] or visit www.cindycashman.com