Looking for the City

I’m looking for a photo for the cover of my next book, City Limits. It could be yours! Here’s the skinny:

Gee wanders into Rosebud Falls and discovers he can’t remember anything about his life before he crossed the City Limits. In attempting to make himself a home in this small city of 4,190 people, he becomes something of a local hero, rescuing a child from the river, breaking up an attempted kidnapping, intervening with a woman overdosed on drugs, etc. He discovers that the City’s Forest, comprising a poisonous variety of hickory trees, holds a strange power over the populace and especially the seven Families who founded it. In attempting to save and expand the Forest, Gee saves the soul of the City as well.

Okay, photographs: I believe there are three likely subjects for the cover.

1.    The first is a picture of a City Limits sign that shows either a small town in the not too distant background or a bridge over a rushing torrent just beyond the sign.

2.    A picture of Main Street in small town USA.

3.    A picture of a hickory forest (could be walnut or pecan, but not an orchard with trees in a straight line).

Here are some characteristics that I’m looking for:

1.    Rosebud Falls is located somewhere east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon line. Population ~4,200.

2.    Mountains are okay, but not as a focal point nor a recognizable peak.

3.    Trees should be deciduous, not evergreen.

4.    No buildings along Main Street should be more than three stories.

5.    Buildings on Main Street should all be connected.

6.    I need to be able to edit out identifying information in the photo like store names, name of the city, license numbers, etc.

7.    Pictures that show cars or fashions need to be contemporary. This is not a historical piece.

8.    Photo resolution must be at least 4,000 by 3,000 pixels, prefer larger. (The bigger the better.)

If you’ve got a question about it, let me know. I’m happy to fill in the blanks in what I want. In fact, here are some examples of the kind of Main Street scene I want.

North Manchester, Indiana: A great Main Street, but my photos of it are either too low resolution or a bad angle.

Lakeport, California: Photo by Arnaudh (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

These are the kind of buildings that I see, but the picture is flat and doesn’t show enough interest. This is also an illustration of something else I don't care for. I'm not fond of looking up at the buildings. I'd rather the photo was taken from a higher angle.

Ames, Iowa. Photo by Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) (Self-photographed) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Though Ames is a much larger city than Rosebud Falls, it does show some of the characteristic buildings. I don’t think I want so much street in the photo.

Middletown, Connecticut: Photo by Joe Mabel [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Middletown is also the ‘right kind’ of town, even though it is much larger than Rosebud Falls, as indicated partially by the extra story of height on most of the buildings. Also, note that if I have legible license plates, I’ll have to edit those as well as all the names of the businesses. I think I would rather have the trees in leaf, as well, as most of the story takes place in the summer.

Leavenworth, WA. This is obviously a bit Bavarian for my tastes, even though the photo angle de-emphasizes the fact that it is a city in the mountains. Notice, too, that the tree is not evergreen, giving the town less northwest atmosphere.

Honesdale, PA: Photo by DWilliamsFrey - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47138493

Honesdale is just the kind of town I want, but this photo is too highly distorted on the wide-angle lens. Again, I’d like to see the trees in leaf.

My biggest problem with this hickory forest photo is figuring out where and how to position a title that would be legible. Photo licensed from Shutterstock. And… although it represents a principal player in the drama (the Forest), it seems foreign with title “City Limits.”

This aerial view of a small city has potential. I especially like the river. The church might be a bit quaint. I’d probably flip the whole photo horizontal to get the open area where I could put the title. Photo licensed from Shutterstock.

This is a picture of exactly the kind of Main Street I want, but… It almost looks like a ghost town. The buildings are a bit shabby. The street is deserted. There are no trees. I might be able to use this but the amount of photo editing required would be staggering! Photo licensed from Shutterstock.

So, there are some samples and descriptions of what I’m looking for. What do you have in your photo files??? Want a cover credit?