“After college, there was a string of soul-sucking jobs that made me miserable,” says photographer Rob Hammer in an interview with the Phoblographer. “During that time, I was trying to figure out what to do with my life and realized that the only constant was the camera. It was the only thing that made me truly happy.” Rob’s story sounds like a relatable one that we can all embrace on a personal level. Lots of us just want to get in a car, drive, and take photos. And that’s exactly what Rob did.
You can pick up Roadside Meditation by Rob Hammer on Amazon.
After a while I developed a portfolio that seemed good at the time, but it was shit. Somehow it landed a SMALL job, and luckily one led to another and another and another. That’s certainly not to say things became easy from there, but it was a start that made me realize the dream was possible.
Rob Hammer Takes Back His Freedom
Rob became a professional photographer but realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t the same as him doing what he enjoyed. “10+ years ago, I was doing a ton of commercial work that paid really well but made me miserable,” says Rob. “It wasn’t all bad, but being on set with 50-100 people that all want their say is exhausting. It’s more about egos and politics than it is about creating anything unique.” Roadside Meditations is a slap in the face to that commercial work, so to speak. In many ways, I like to think that it’s a part of Rob retaking his photographic identity.
Rob always loved road trips. And when he moved from Upstate New York to San Diego, he became obsessed with them. This was the first time that he experienced the country in such a way. So to Rob, he found it both scary and invigorating. Since then, he’s adored the feeling of freedom to brings him.
Marrying his love of road trips with his desperate search for a long-term personal project just happened to work out. So he grabbed his dog Mojo, too much gear, and got on the road. For Rob, there was no destination. He just wanted to shoot — and that’s exactly what he did for 35,000 miles across America over a period of 10 years.
So I was desperately searching for a long term personal project to balance that out. Something that only involved me and a camera without a bunch of people hanging over my neck saying, “ask him to turn 3 millimeters to the left so we can see more of the logo. No, now back the other way two millimeters”.
On Shooting Roadside Meditations
Roadtrip photography is difficult to pull off. Rob tried pitching the idea of a book to various publishers, but many turned it down. Specifically, he was going for an instructional book that focused on the mental approach instead of the technical mumbo jumbo. “One of the things I talked about in the pitch is that you need to make a picture with all of your senses because they collectively affect your brain and what you shoot,” Rob tells us. “If you walk around a new place and let your senses into the process, they will help you see. The temperature, weather, light, smells, other people, movement, etc. It all creates an energy that can have a positive effect on your image making.” He continued to state that quietly listening to local people talk also gave him ideas.
Indeed, when we asked Rob about how difficult it is to encompass the feeling of actually being there instead of just staring at a photo, he agreed that it’s an arduous process.
Unfortunately it doesn’t matter how great a photograph is, you can’t beat the experience of being there. That’s probably why I love the road so much, because every experience is new. Even if you’ve been to a place before, the light is always different. And if you’re patient enough to just stop and look, even in the most desolate places, there is always so much going on that can’t be translated into a photograph. An image might be able to translate the vibe, but it can’t hit all of your senses.
There are lots of memorable moments for Rob. For him, it’s more about the collective experience instead of single memories. However, Rob says that the process gave him a lot of life-changing moments. Part of this is because he’s seen the country in a completely different way. He saw friends, family, and even met complete strangers. It led him to fly-fishing trips, snowboarding, and foodie experiences.
Every time Rob gets on the road, he’s got a lot of happy excitement. This makes you want to shoot everything you see. After a while, he relaxes into what he believes is “vacation mode.” This is where Rob says that he becomes more focused and forms a theme. It’s a skill that Rob says is very useful when you’re out there to make photos. His truck becomes his home and office.
The Essential CAmera Gear of Rob Hammer
To do Roadside Meditations, Rob used Sony a9s and Sigma Art lenses. “I’ve shot on newer cameras with much higher resolution, but this is the camera that works for me,” says Rob. “It does what I want it to do in the scenarios I shoot in. That’s the important part, not the price tag or megapixel count.”
Despite owning thousands of dollars of gear, Rob says that it should be an afterthought. To him, shooting on the latest gear is just nonsense and ego. “Look at the most famous photographs of all time and think about what they were made on – cameras that would be considered dinosaurs today,” he says. “Sure, you need to have a professional-level camera, but all this 100-megapixel stuff is completely unnecessary. People think it will make them look better to potential clients, but owning that $50,000 camera doesn’t make you a better photographer.” He’s learned this after beating his own gear addiction and wanting the best gear.
“…then I smartened up and realized all the hype was just good marketing,” Rob relates. “People make great photographs, not cameras. When I first started road tripping across America ten+ years ago, my camera bags were filled with 3 bodies, 6 lenses, 4 strobes, modifiers, and a dozen light stands. All that did was make me overthink every shot.” He remembers a trip to France specifically where he was hauling around a ton of lighting gear.
“All of this is a long-winded way of saying that I prefer a minimal kit that doesn’t weigh me down. I don’t want to think about the gear at all. It’s just there for me to make images with.”
All images by Rob Hammer. Used with permission. Be sure to visit his website for more. You can pick up Roadside Meditation by Rob Hammer on Amazon.