I’ve never listened to The Unforgettable Fire by U2, or paid any attention to its cover until the other day, when it occurred to me it looked a bit like an infrared photo. Well, I’m not entirely sure – a sepia tone with a polarizing filter, maybe.

Anyway, what is an infrared photo is an image of Moydrum Castle from Sir Simon Marsden’s 1980 book In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland, which photographer Anton Corbijn blatantly copied for the cover photo for U2’s 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. U2 had to pay Marsden compensation for the likeness, which uses the same angle, colour and a similar technique.

Sir Simon Marsden, Baronet of Grimsby, who died in 2012, was a photographer who specialised in atmospheric black and white infrared photos of haunted ruins, and was fascinated with the supernatural.

Previously on Barnflakes
Welcome to St. Decay
Infra ready