Rex Cravat made a series of glass sculptures of ant-like creatures with faces like cow skulls, each of them in a different pose, especially for me, Jerry Ferrin, to photograph. We took them to Gate's Pass and other desert areas around Tucson and spent a whole day photographing them.
This photo was published in The Tucson Citizen on May 29, 1985, page C1.
by Dan Sorenson
Citizen Staff Writer
But Jerry Ferrin says his photograph of two translucent green creatures atop a barrel cactus doesn't record the arrival of E.T.s. They're phonies.
Ferrin, 33, a Tucson freelance photographer among other things, and Rex Cravat, a 39-year-old Bisbee glass sculptor, created the green bugs and photo for an Omni magazine photo contest.
Ferrin said he asked his long-time friend Cravat to whip up something for the science and future-oriented magazine's contest. The result was what they call Cravat's Critters.
Ferrin made the photo using Kodak Infrared Ektachrome film, a long exposure, white and red light artificial lighting and natural lighting just before sunset at Gate's Pass.
Artificial lighting, using electronic strobes, is his specialty. Ferrin said he learned a lot about it while working as a photographer for Magma Copper Co.
Ferrin is considering issuing a postcard version of Cravat's Critters. Even the most gullible tourist has figured out by now that the notorious postcard creature, the Jackalope, is a fictitious creature. But there are probably thousands more who would be willing to swallow any story about horrible-looking insects in the desert.