Rob Han is a photographer known for his landscape and portrait photography. He started his career in fashion and portrait photography but eventually shifted his focus to capturing the American West. Rob finds the landscape and subject matter of the American West appealing because of its romantic and minimalist qualities. He plans his road trips by researching areas of interest and also enjoys stumbling upon unexpected locations. Rob shoots primarily on film and takes a limited number of shots, focusing on capturing the essence of the scene. He reviews his shots after returning home and selects the best ones to develop and edit. Rob recommends specializing in a particular subject or style to develop a unique voice in photography. He sells his prints through his website, galleries, and local shops in Joshua Tree. Visit Rob's webiste HERE Purchase Robs work at Clic Visit Very Very in Twentynine Palms to Purchase Rob's work HERE Chapters 00:00Introduction and Background 02:58Transition to Landscape Photography 08:00Shifting Focus to Portraits and Personal Projects 11:01Thought Process and Approach to Framing Shots 14:53Reviewing and Editing Process 24:04Settling in Joshua Tree and Future Plans 29:01Where to See and Purchase Rob's Work 32:01Conclusion and Farewell Danny (00:03.037) All right, Rob Han, welcome to the Highway 62 podcast. Thanks so much for taking some time out. How are you today? Rob (00:10.414) Great, thanks Danny and thanks for having me on. Danny (00:13.853) My pleasure. I'm a big fan of your work. I actually purchased one of your photographs from Very Very over the Christmas season. So I think I showed that in that Instagram reel, but it's just right up my alley. And so before we get real deep into what you're doing with photography now, give us a little bit of your background. I know you've wore a lot of hats. Rob (00:22.569) you did? cool. Rob (00:27.694) Mm -hmm. Rob (00:43.118) yeah, yeah. So I was born in England, grew up on a farm very close to Stonehenge in the south of England. yeah, I left school at 16. I'd done tons and tons of jobs. You know, I was a firefighter, like every restaurant job. I was a bike messenger. I've been a, I've been like a, a doorman bouncer. I was, Danny (01:00.765) Ha ha ha. Rob (01:12.045) I was a model, which that started when I was already 30 years old. And I did that for about 10 years. But during that period, early on, actually, I was kind of wondering what I could do next. And I was in that world, you know, surrounded by photographers. And I'd also always kind of had an opinion on, I like looking at photographs and kind of developed a taste. Danny (01:17.502) wow. Rob (01:41.132) before I even bought a camera and I bought a camera thinking, well, maybe I could be a photographer, you know, and just sort of just started shooting, shooting friends and sort of went from there. Danny (01:54.772) So, and I was reading a little bit in your bio. So when you first started doing photography, you were doing like portrait photography, is that correct? Rob (02:04.587) Yeah, I was. I, you know, initially because I was in that world, I thought I might kind of do fashion or, but, but then I went to see this big show of Irving Penn that originally was at MoMA in New York. And, but I actually saw it in London and it was just fantastic. You know, I bought the catalog and I just was fascinated by all the portraits that he'd done. And not only were they wonderful pictures, but he'd met all of those people. He spent time with them. And I thought, well, that would be a cool thing to do, you know? And he photographed everyone you could ever think of. And they were beautiful pictures. And so, you know, I kind of went in that direction. I was already, you know, I'd been in that kind of fashion world for a while. And initially it was, you know, it was exciting and it was fun. Danny (02:58.657) Yeah. Rob (03:03.69) but I was getting a little tired of it. And the whole portrait thing seemed like it might be more interesting to me. So that's what I pursued. And after several years of just shooting friends and getting my act together, then I started showing my work to magazine editors, this sort of thing. And I got my first breaks in music. Danny (03:08.993) Yeah. Danny (03:13.825) Gotcha. Rob (03:32.937) In England, there used to be at least this weekly rock paper called NME, the New Musical Express. And when I was growing up, I used to get that, you know, it used to get delivered to the farm like a day late. And I would read every inch of it. And I was just fascinated by that. And so it was cool to actually start shooting for them. And I would shoot, you know, three or four things a week. Danny (03:40.931) Yep. Sure. Yeah. Danny (03:48.867) Ha ha! Rob (04:02.729) for them, a lot of portraits, band pictures. I also had to do live stuff, which wasn't really my thing, but it was fun to go to festivals and that kind of thing. So that was where I really got my ...
