240 - Robbie Lawrence

Robbie Lawrence is a London based Scottish photographer and director represented by Webber Represents. Robbie is acutely attentive to the way images tell a story. Working with a painterly softness and sensitivity to his subjects, he deals in detail and nuance. From portraiture, travel and documentary to editorial work, he places the human experience front and centre to create thoughtful, abstract images, with an emphasis on narrative.

Recent books include Blackwater River and A Voice Above The Linn published by Stanley/Barker. Stills gallery in Edinburgh hosted the first UK institutional solo exhibition by Robbie in 2022, bringing together a snapshot of life post-Brexit across Scotland’s cities, rural locations and coastal towns.

Robbie’s new book, Long Walk Home, was just released (September 2024) by Stanley/Barker.

Clients Include: UN, Apple, Nike, Hermes, Gucci, The New Yorker, Du Monde, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, I-D and many others.

In episode 240, Robbie discusses, among other things:

• His recent assignment at The Olympics
• His internship in Paris and his time in New York
• His relationship to painting and writing
• Building a career to encompass commercial and personal work
• How working commercially can be a ‘relief’.
• His ‘macrojournalistic approach’
• His first book project, Blackwater River
• His second book, A Voice Above The Linn
• Collaboration with poet John Burnside
• His new book about the Highland Games, Long Walk Home.
• Why he threw away three years worth of work and began again
• Working digitally with ‘manual’ lenses
• The difference between myth and history
• A reading from John Burnside’s essay in the book

Referenced:

• The Tokyo Olympiad, Kon Ichikawa
• The French, William Klein
• John Burnside
• Renton’s rant on why it’s ‘shite being Scottish’ from the movie Trainspotting

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“I like the variety […] I like being on set. You become more like a director. As a photographer you’re almost the emotional heartbeat of a set. It’s interesting because at school and university I really found exams hellish from an expectation point of view. Like, I would put myself under a lot of pressure. And I would describe some of those more pressurised commercial jobs almost like a school exam where you expected to produce something of quality under a very tight time constraint. As a physical experience it can feel similar, and I suppose maybe it’s just experience that I can now recall moments where I’ve overcome those kind of stresses. So I like the shift.”

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