We noticed the other day that our Ten Questions series has had a rather severe shortage of photographers. While the majority of focus on the blog has been on graphic design, our influences and inspirations come from far and wide. Photography is one of those areas and we plan to showcase plenty more of it on the blog in the future. Will Robson-Scott is a photographer who came to my attention some time ago with his series showing the London grime movement. Shining a light on the more outsider or marginalised subcultures has become a bit of a theme in his work, the most recent example of this being his Ego Bombing series, showing graffiti writers going about their business in and around London. The series eventually became the basis for Crack and Shine, a book produced in collaboration with publisher Fred Forsyth, TopSafe and Vans. The success of Crack and Shine enabled the collaboration to continue in the shape of Crack and Shine International, where Robson-Scott travelled to various major cities around the world to document some of the most well known graffiti writers in their natural habitat.
Will was kind enough to take some time to answer our Ten Questions.
1. How do you describe what you do?
Take photos of people who don’t want their photo taken.
2. What made you want to do what you do?
A frustration of things being misrepresented.
3. How would you describe your workplace?
Organised confusion.
4. What is your favourite colour?
Blue and Grey.
5. Who is your favourite artist or writer?
I don’t have a favourite artist or writer, I have favourite bodys of work. I’m a huge fan of Subway by Bruce Davidson, Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue by Eugene Richards and I’m a big Tom Wood fan.
6. What was your previous job?
I still a number of things to pay the rent, but my worst job was working in a kitchen in a cafe.
7. Do you work within a team? If so, how many people do you work with?
I work on the own most of the time, unless I’m shooting fashion or something more commercial then I work with an assistant or stylist.
8. Do you listen to music whilst working? If so, what do you listen to?
Smiths, Nirvana, John Martyn, Wu Tang, grime, early 90’s east coast hip hop, Dusty Springfield, new and old Kanye and much more. That sounds strangely generic, I guess I’m part of the iPod shuffle generation.
9. Who inspires you to do what you’re doing?
Inspiration and drive goes up and down I find. My friends inspire me, but a slightly ambiguous motivation, the fear of becoming irrelevant is a big drive.
10. Which advice has helped you the most?
Be persistent.
Huge thanks to Will for getting involved. You can check out more of his work here, follow his blog here and buy the excellent Crack and Shine books here. Do it.
As a little extra treat, see below for and interview with Will and Freddie in which they discuss the book at the launch event held at Mother.
Thank you for reading, much love.
Mat
