Robert Wilson

The interview

Robert Wilson

After sending off a great deal of emails to a number of photographers I was eventually fortunate to get a reply from a photographer that I now deeply admire after seeing his work.

  Robert Wilson among photographing high listing stars,royalty and large sporting events has also travelled overseas with fighting servicemen and photographed them after they have returned from patrols and extended moments of fighting. With his unique style of pushing the clarity of an image to it's limit's, Robert Wilson has managed to have a large catalogue of striking images.

Here are the questions and answer that he so thankfully gave.


Q1) What convinced you to become a photographer?

I just got interested around 14,then wnet to College after my A levels. It was a toss up between furtniture college and Photography College.

Q2) What do you enjoy most about photography?

You travel the world meeting new people and doing what you love doing.

Q3) Was it hard to get your work published?

It always takes time to get your work published. To begin with there's always a lot of knocking on doors seeing people. I was farily lucky as i was shooting a personal project that a pricture editor got to see. He then published it in his magazine and started commissioning me to shoot for them.

Q4) Did you face any challenges overseas while photographing?

There are always challenges overseas or not. When abroard there are other logistical problems that you face....language,power supply etc but photography is all about the challenges you come across and adapting to them. If you shoot somewhere where it's dusty you have to adapt to these conditions,similarly if you're on a boat getting covered by spray it's a different challenge.

Q5) Did the servicemen that you photographed  respond well to the images?

Yes,i think they all liked them very much.  Many of them have been in touch asking for prints.

Q6) Was it hard to get involved with the Armed Forces in terms of photographing them?

Not for me. I had a chance meeting with someone who worked for the Brigadier at the time, and so they invited me to go out to Afghanistan as their war artist.

Q7)  Were you escorted to certain areas or allowed to pick the areas to photograph  freely?

I always had the Brigadiers ADC (aide-de-camp) with me, and in some cases also had the help of the Brigadiers close protection officer. We could pretty much go where we wanted in terms of which FOB  (Forward operating base) we visited but obviously weren't allowed to venture out of them on our own....that would be unwise!

Q8) Is there a photographer of event that directly inspired you to go overseas and photograph?

Although known much more in a commercial field i've always loved conflict photography.....the work of don McCullen, Larry Burrows. I was also fascinated by the Bang Bang club photographers in South Africa.

Q9) What motivates you to do what you do?

I love photographing people. I just love shooting portraits of people. I enjoy landscapes from many other photographers but ultimately it's pictures of people i love. The variety of people that make up this world fasciantes me.

Q10) You've photographed a number of celebrities/stars including Prince Harry, Were you pressured to do a certain image because of their fame?

No, I always think of what image i want before i shoot someone. I've never had any pressure to shoot something i don't want. Part of what i like doing is showing people in their best light. I don't really go out to make someone look silly or quirky, so i think there's always an element of trust from subjects.


Robert Wilson's website can be found just below,please visit it and look at his fantastic work of servicemen among other amazifn pieces.
Robert Wilson photography