In Talks with John Rawson
Getting up close and personal and being as candid as somebody like him can be is surely not an easy task. Here is a short interview where KAMANA SINGH from Chiiz gets in talk with John Rawson.
Being one already, what role do you think a hair stylist plays in getting the right picture that you look for? Do you sometimes find it a little difficult to choose even the right model for a shoot? It’ s all about team work on shoots – we have, over the years, built fantastic relationships with hairdressers / stylists / make-up artists and models so when we receive a brief it’ s easy for us to co-ordinate the right people for that specific brief. Every single element is equally important so if one thing is not in line the‘ everything’ would fail.
With the rapid pace of advancement in technology, is it hard to keep up with the amount of energy and time you have to put into your work? Tell us some really significant change that you have experienced from the time you started working, something that you really miss about the 90s? Technology is amazing, however, it doesn’ t make good pictures! We were sold a dream when the digital revolution happened and it really just meant far more work than when we shot on film. In many ways, it makes
36 Vol 7 people lazy and reliant on retouch. I love the new camera’ s etc. but they are in constant flux and very expensive! i. e. the current system we use cost somewhere around £ 40,000 and that is hard for many to recoup. I think the 90’ s was a very liberating decade and lots of what occurred was groundbreaking and will be looked back on with great fondness but when you revisit a time, which seems to be happening more and more from an inspiration point of view, it’ s never the same.
When I see your photographs, I see a form of poetry flowing through all of them. Is it something that you want to acknowledge to? Which is your favourite one? I don’ t have a specific favourite image – other than the most current one I’ m working on at the time. We constantly try and move forward so don’ t like looking back too much! Poetry? Well we do try always to make it beautiful – even if it’ s extreme and radical. I want it to have a flow and move where possible.
From a hairdresser to a world renowned photographer, such a transition is an outcome of hard work, and absolutely not just some smart luck. Some advices to the budding artists out there. Funnily enough, it happened by mistake! I never thought I’ d be able to make it as a photographer but worked hard and took many risks and it paid off!! Being“ safe” and comfortable is not a state that’ s creative – so gamble and see where it takes you.
How much time do you generally spend on retouching a photograph when you are not satisfied with the outcome? Or you go for a totally different alternative? Retouching is a large part of an image but the concept and lighting must be right or the retouch can’ t fix it! I have an amazing team that retouch for me and we spend as much time as it needs!
What, according to you, makes a perfect photograph? I doubt there is a‘ perfect’ one and if it was it probably wouldn’ t be very beautiful – perfection rarely is! A great team / models etc. is probably the closest you’ ll get to it!
The Rawson Partnership is a photographic consultancy which specialises in the fashion and hair & beauty industries. They are a committed team who prides itself in developing and understanding your brief. They organise every stage of the shoot process from concept to booking models and castings through full post production and high end retouch and print. You can check out their website: therawsonpartnership. net.
Kamana Singh kamana @ chiiz. com Kamana Singh is a 2nd year Literature Student at Delhi University. She is a self-proclaimed wanderer. You will find her mostly shuffling books in the library or binge watching some netflix series. Mostly writes to calm herself and never to share it with the world.