The photographer and curator Tim Barber has shot work for publications ranging from Vice to Vogue, and for brands like Nike, Levi's and Opening Ceremony. But his most famous client is undoubtedly Sir Elton John, who used a decade-old photo of Barber's as the cover of his 31st studio album, "The Diving Board," out Sept. Here, Barber relates the story of the image: I took this photo about 10 years ago somewhere between Vancouver and Squamish, on the coast of British Columbia. I don't actually know exactly where. It's a kind of legendary secret swimming spot where some kids had installed a diving board on the side of a cliff. You had to park really far away and walk through the woods to get there. I was with some friends from Vancouver who knew about it. I think it was October. When I took the picture - literally, while I was pushing the button - I was thinking, "This looks amazing." It was just a special moment and the light was crazy that day. The air was super clear. Something I strive for in my photos is to imply a greater narrative, to make the viewer wonder what happened before and what happened after. I think this picture is a good example of that. It's also the photo of mine that people always think is fake - like that it's been Photoshopped, or shot on a green screen. I like that. Something that was so simple and real ended up so surreal and hard to believe. My good friend Ryan McGinley is friends with Elton John, who is a big collector of contemporary photography and has collected a lot of Ryan's work. Elton already had the title for the album, so he contacted Ryan and asked him if he had any images that might work for it. Ryan knew about my photo, and suggested it to Elton for the record. Elton called out of the blue, to ask about using the photo and to talk about the record. That experience was almost as surreal as the picture. This photo has been around quite a bit and seen by a lot of people, but being on this album cover is such a different scale. It's one of those times when you think about how big the world is, how many eyes are going to see this picture now. People are sending me photos of it on billboards, it's just a different level of visibility. I love thinking about the dissemination of this image - and that moment - just going out into the world and lasting forever.