Lone Wolf by Paige Hocking

Lone Wolf

PHOTOGRAPHER TRIBUTE

eet Rupert Tapper. A talented fashion photographer based in London, he dabbled in Art Direction and Advertising before making the switch to Photography a few years ago. Inspired by both the traditional and the contemporary, Rupert vividly incorporates artistic qualities within the commercial field of fashion photography through his experimental practices. Lone Wolf spoke to the newly established photographer about his vast career, his practice, and his inspirations. Read on!

LONE WOLF : How did you get into photography ? RUPERT TAPPER : I used to work as an Art Director and I did that for quite a while. Basically I went straight out of school and started doing that. I was a work experience guy and worked my way up in Advertising. Then, you know, I was working with photographers as an Art Director and was always interested in it. I went and did a course in design half way through my Advertising, and Photography was apart of that. Then I just decided that I’d had enough of Advertising, and because I was working with all these people I wanted to do my own thing and do what they do. LW : Did you go to university when you decided you wanted to be a photographer ? RT : No, I just jumped straight in. I didn’t do a degree at all. Literally the only course I did was a 6-month TAFE course, but I already felt like I knew most of it.. LW : You did a stint in Australia a few years ago, were you in the country for long ? RT : Yeah, I basically grew up there so I went to school in Australia and lived there ‘til I guess, I mean I did a few little trips when I was 18 and then lived there another few years and then lived in Paris for a little while. When I was assisting I was living in Paris, then back in Australia for a little stint and then moved over here permanently about 3 or 4 years ago. LW : Have you always been interested in fashion ? RT : Always fashion. I think because I worked in advertising for a long time, I really wanted to get away from that commercial stuff. I worked in fashion a

little bit, I had a go at doing some styling and some PR. I designed some stuff as well. I started a little t-shirt brand for a while and worked with a friend of mine who has a label in Sydney. I think from that I just thought, I like this world, its creative, it’s freer I find, than advertising, photography or architecture. You get to create something rather than just capture it. LW : What type of camera did you begin shooting with? RT : I would borrow cameras of the guys that I assisted. So when I first started properly trying to shoot, I was in Sydney by this point, working with this Australian guy and he had a couple of cameras. He had a Hasselblad and a Nikon, so I just used to use either one, usually the Hasselblad when I could. So I got to use that when I was starting out and then obviously I had to buy my own camera. I went straight to digital. LW : What do you shoot with now ? Do you have a favourite camera ? RT : The camera that I have I don’t like it really. I think once you get to a point it’s kind of like, for me anyway, it doesn’t matter what camera you shoot with. I mean I could probably shoot an editorial on my iPhone. And it’s more about lighting, it’s quite important. A lot of it is direction, especially in fashion, the model and direction of the team, the hair and make-up and the styling, having a really good, strong team behind you. The camera is just the tool the capture whatever else is happening. Yeah I would like a Hasselblad, because it creates really crisp images, but yeah I’m just shooting on a Canon. But I think I want to get a Nikon, because as a photographer you need a couple of different cameras for different scenarios.

PHOTOGRAPHER TRIBUTE

LW : How did you develop your style ? RT : I guess its one of those things, its like any style that you have and anything you do, you know, what music you like to listen to… It’s just whatever inspires you. Where you live, where you’ve been. I’ve travelled and I’ve been to a lot of places. I’ve got itchy feet so I guess all of that contributed to the style of photography that I do and its again the people that inspire me, like all the photographers from the past, the work that I really like. The guys that I assisted, you know it all kind of just comes together and I think sometimes you find yourself looking too closely at other people you start copying people and you have to try and tear yourself away. When I was in Australia I did a few things that were quite nice, and from within, but you start to look around at all the other photographers overseas and think ‘oh that’s cool, I want to do something like that’, and then you end up copying them. And then I guess moving over here I really tried to do my own thing. I experimented a little, and I see things that I like and I’ll go ‘oh I like that’, and then you just put your own spin on it. LW : With your style of photography, do you do a lot in camera or do you rely on post production ? RT : I do a bit of both. I do a little bit of post production, but I don’t like to create images. I don’t like fake things, I just enhance. Most of my post production is colour. I do a little bit of correction with skin, and hair, and things that just look out of place. I guess when you look at an image then say that your eyes is always drawn to the problems, or the mistakes, or things that are wrong. So if there is one hair right across the eye or something, you always look at that. So I think getting rid of those little things are necessary, and then I just like to experiment with the colour, and the contrast. I don’t create images by adding 3 images together, I find that stuff a bit ‘nuff’. But I do like to use crystals, or you know material or whatever over my lens. Experiment with different filters, different lighting

techniques to create that kind of vibrant picture. I guess it’s a bit of both; I don’t rely purely on post or purely on camera. Sometimes I just like to keep it quite simple. LW : Do you like working in a studio or on location ? RT : I think I much prefer location. Sometimes a studio can be really cool, but it’s a lot different and a lot harder, well for me anyway. Some people seem to find it easier, but I think because I like character in a story I need more of a theme. In a studio it’s harder to create that. I always like location more, but that being said I’ve done some pretty interesting studio shoots as well. Lighting wise it’s really fun, you can play around with it a lot more, which you can’t so much on location. LW : Who are some photographers that inspire you ? RT : All those old guys like Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, and all those kind of guys. Bob Richardson, Terry Richardson’s dad. I’ve got kind of two sides to my taste. There’s the classic ones like Avedon and Newton, they are quite classic but they still push their ideas. They’re really out there and different, but their style is quite classic. You know, a lot of black and white, and they’re just beautiful. It’s all about the woman. And there’s others like Man Ray and Guy Bordin, and they do a lot more experimentation. It’s a lot more abstract and avant garde in the work that they do. So I guess I’ve got two things that I draw from. The crazy stuff that’s out there, like Mert and Marcus and Steven Klien and Steven Meisel, who are obviously still shooting now but you just look at their stuff and its just so different to everyone else’s. They’re ideas are just really out there, a bit sublime. I mean I like that, I like to mix the two of those things together. I like the abstract stuff, but then there’s a side of me that really is drawn to the classic woman but maybe with some kind of twist. Like a power struggle or whatever it is that’s inspiring the shoot.