We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rob Van Petten a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rob , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. f you needed to find a key partner or facility – how did you find them, what was the process of striking a deal like and what would you do differently knowing what you know now?

Every once in a while a model comes through the door and compels me to collaborate. When I met Jacquline I was immediately impressed, taken by her confidence and poise at 16 years old. She was intelligent and worldly beyond her years, but more importantly she seemed to have a focused vision of what I wanted to get on the screen. The results were getting better and better. She began to read the very subtle sequence of variations, progression of expressions that I was trying to find. What a pleasure. I could easily give directions and see the immediate interpretations as the shot evolved. What ever this form of communication, I liken it to a dancer and a choreographer. Such a gratifying discovery. We tried other shots close up and then moved outside to shoot full length and eventually to the beach to shoot in the water.
I have since shot some critical close up images for cosmetic tests which require tremendous self-discipline moving slowly and sequentially to give nuance to the emotional moods. The results exceed my expectations.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Pat Metheny and I had worked on a few studio shoots together. He called me with the concept of his then new release idea, American Garage, a reference to the rock and roll garage band stage of earlier years. He was going to be recording in the studio. We came up this idea to shoot as if the band were literally in a garage. I began searching the neighborhood around the studio to keep it practical. Very close by was this garage with an old Ford Country Squire Station wagon squeezed into a stall, but too long to shut the door. The irony of the situation cried out to be a perfect garage band shot. We went to work dragging out Pat’s Roland 100 watt amp, drums and props and instruments. The mattress, clothes line, and wheel barrow were within a short radius. Then lighting the garage interior and to balance all the boys was next. The red shirt on the clothes line was set up to hide the light positioned up to shine through the garage window.
Not too long after, we had the band, Pat Metheny, Lysle Mayes, Danny Gotleib, and Mark Egan all in position. Without any discussion of attitude or mood, this group of the finest jazz musicians launched into low brow garage band classic, like Wipeout, Louie Louie, and Walk Don’t Run. We were all hysterical. That Roland Amp was painfully loud. There was no chance at directing them at that volume, so I started shooting. It all looked great and besides losing my hearing for days, a great time was had by all.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Testing new techniques and equipment is how photographers learn. I’ve spent days tweaking lighting and trying out new lenses to find the magic combination that pushes my pictures forward.

Very often I have gotten jobs that I did not know how to do – lighting and studio sets that I did not know how to produce. So I tested all day and night to learn the technique before the real shoot date. I decided to ask known models I trusted and new prospective models to spend a Sunday in the studio working on new ideas. I shot this over the course of 50 Sundays.

I was slowly articulating a look for my images that told the story of my studio. This would also allow for a fashion shooting style that was not required in the more conservative assignments I was getting from clients. I wanted to push it further and be a bit more daring. I found Helmut Newton’s sexy situations amusing, daring and playfully absurd. I loved the simplicity and unusual composition in Guy Bourdin’s editorials and catalogs. The classic structured lighting configurations created by George Hurrell fit my lighting aptitude. Some mix of these masters was the magic formula.

I began to keep mental notes of what happened in the studio, how the models stood, interacted and prepared. That behind the scenes theme became the style of the story.

My testing images began to take on a look and life of their own. It was a process to push myself, take risks and at he same time get a grasp of what was possible and potential for shooting assignments.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Sabrina called with an idea. She was starring in a movie being shot at the Cannes Film Festival in May. We had shot fashion and beauty images together and always had great success finding something special. She asked me if I would shoot her in the fashion pictures for designers she was wearing at Cannes and during the filming. Sounded OK.

I met Sabrina and the film director the first morning I arrived in Cannes. We ran off to a remote decrepit building for the first location, The director said he had seen my pictures and asked how I would light this particularly moody first scene. I showed him my ideas. He asked if I would like to shoot the first scene.

Things started to go well, and I ended up shooting the rest of the three day shoot. One thing leads to another quite unexpectedly. The film has won several awards for Best Short, Best Female lead, Best Director, and actually Best Cinematographer.

That was an unlikey little adventure. Rare but you never know what to expect.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.robvanpetten.com
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• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rob.vanpetten/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-van-petten-0a698b12/
• Youtube: You tube rob van petten
• Other: www.robvanpetten.com

Image Credits
All photos, Rob Van Petten