Robert Leslie

In this FotoTV interview with photographer Robert Leslie, he discusses his work ethic, his mentors, and his latest project, the photographic documentation of portraits the world’s greatest and most influential photographers.

Leslie’s anecdotes begin with experiences of his early still life and travel location editorial work career and he also divulges how the behind the scenes book project of the world’s photography masters came to fruition. Encouraged by an old collaborator & friend, (ex art director of French Vogue, currently AD of Stern) Donald Schneider, Leslie agreed to shoot a retrospective of distinguished photographers, young and old alike. It proved a great opportunity for Leslie as usually these photographers were only used to being behind the lens. This made the project all the more unique and challenging for Leslie who was up until that point a master of event and abstract photography.

Focusing on capturing the spontaneous interaction between people and capitalizing on that brief moment, Leslie creates the images of his subjects efficiently, yet rapidly and with accurate perception. This style is undoubtedly quite unconventional in the day and age of large memory cards and deletable digital photography, however quite similar to the shooting method of photographer great Cartier Bresson, a personal motivation for Leslie himself.

Leslie’s recent work has been conceived thoughtfully, sharp and precise. Likened to the soft light and white background signature style of Richard Avedon, Leslie has made a name for himself as the “photographers photographer” with his stark black and white vision of the world’s most remarkable photographers.