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[June 18th, 2007 ]
A product of 12 years of Catholic school, Bob Stevens thought for most of his formative life that he would be a writer or teacher of language. His love for stories and storytelling dominated his thoughts until through a bizarre chain of events, he took a photography class at Santa Monica College. He soon realized that the camera was just as powerful a narrative tool as the pen and a career was born. Bob's first and last assisting job was for an LA advertising photographer. He plunged into his own studio and business after only a year of being #2. Bob took to the water of creating images for sale like the proverbial duck and has not looked back since.
Do you have any favorite Photographers?
It changes all the time. When I see a picture and say to myself " I wish I had taken it" that person's my new favorite.
You've been shooting digital exclusively now for 2 years, do you miss film?
No.
What's the best experience you've ever had on a shoot?
Whenever I know as I'm creating the image that it's going to be great, that feeling is amazing. Most recently, that feeling came to me while shooting the three campaigns shown with this article.
Tell me about them, first the Drug Free images.
Great art buyers pair shooters with the right creatives and concepts that make for a good fit. Kat Dalager at C-M did just that. Then Vinny Matassa, the CD, walked me through his thought processes and turned me loose. The girl in the landfill is actually a composite because the placed was too repulsive to take her. I remember once during the shoot, I was very engrossed in what I was doing and turned around to see Vinny watching me work and he smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. Very cool. The headline says "Friends are not Disposable". The clients at The Partnership for a Drug Free America were very supportive. I'm very proud of this work.
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The VW Passat images are hilarious.
Lisa Lee, the AB from Crispin Porter + Bogusky said she thought of me when she first saw the layouts. These shots allowed me to use my abilities to shoot cars and people with a wicked twist. The first words in the copy/headline are "It's faster than you knew", faster than the terrified passengers knew for sure. The AD, Colin Kim was the point man and kept things moving. Whenever I needed input or direction, he and his Blackberry were there. Scott Linnen, the CD on the shoot, had this amazing way of quietly walking up behind me at camera and making these little suggestions and then laughing. The great thing about these two is that they never stopped trying to improve the pictures and that carried through to post production. I have to say, they brought out the best in me. It was my first shoot for CPB and it was a great ride.
And Yahoo? These are unusual portraits.
I have known Jen Small the AB for a few years. She called and knew a good fit when she saw one. In the words of Tyler Warrender the AD, the objective was to capture a "photo booth" sort of sensibility with people looking in the camera with quizzical and quirky expressions to support the Yahoo! "Answers" concept. He said those magic words: "can you create a look for us?" Music to my ears! I used a much shorter lens than normally reserved for portraits to really engage the viewer with the subject and designed lighting using tools I had not used before. It's always fun to try different things. We shot a total of 30 unique images in 2 1/2 days.
There seems to be a theme here and Art Buyers are in the thick of it.
Absolutely. They have become our contact point at the agencies and the good ones seem to balance their roles of gatekeeper, confidant and therapist for the AD's. At the same time they guide us to the best possible situations.
All these images have a different but stylized feel to them. What do you consider to be your 'style'?
I don't really have one and it's always been that way. I like trying different approaches and ways of looking at things. I have the attention span of a 4 year old when it comes to style. It's all about the story, the concept, the idea and my job is to create a visual extension that supports, not distracts.
How about post-production?
I do a lot of it myself. My digital tech, David Choo, has amazing Photoshop skills and does all the dirty work. Then I come in and do the fun stuff. He calls me the "colorizer". If I feel like I'm in over my head, we will bring in outside retouchers to help.
To what or to whom do you attribute your success?
Good clients who allow good creatives to create good images from good concepts. And then they hire me.
What do you want to do when you grow up?
I have no plans in that department.
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