Q&A with Robert “Robot” Parker

Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment features reporter Casey Phillips spoke with local event photographer Robert “Robot” Parker about what he looks for in a good party shot, the importance of narrative and snapping 43,000 pictures in a year.

CP: How did you get into photography?

RP: I've always had the little point-and-shoots and disposable cameras. I was at UTC, and I decided to get into graphic design. I saw they had a photography class. I had always had crappy cameras, but I wanted to use my student loan to buy a good camera. I took the class to justify that. It ended up clicking, if you'll excuse the photo pun. It was the first time I ever used SLR cameras and worried about metering and all those different things. It just turned out to be the only thing I want to do. I didn't want to make ads for a living, so when they started offering the photo media major, I jumped on board.

CP: How long have you been doing event photography?

RP: About a year. Barely a year.

CP: How long have you been shooting, period?

RP: About a year and a half. That's when I took that first photo class and started rearranging my life to be focused on photography.

CP: What about photography appeals to you?

RP: Through most of my life, I've been this ancillary observer. I wasn't always super sociable, but I was always studying people and situations. There are all these little random things in the world that catch my eye, like 'Wow, that's funny' or 'That's interesting.' It's totally random stuff that, unless you study it critically in an artistic setting, you wouldn't think it's much to look at.

CP: Are you a different person behind the camera than you are in front of it?

RP: I would say yeah, especially when I'm doing parties and events. Part of my job is to be the public face of the event, kind of the hype man. If you look at something like Bangers Ball or any event where there's a clear separation of audience and stage, for the most part, I'm the part of the event that people can directly interact with and talk to and ask questions of. I'm not as reticient with the camera up; I can be this 'Robot' Parker, party character guy.

CP: Would you hang out with Robot Parker, party character guy?

RP: Absolutely. He gets in free to everything.

CP: Does working while you're shooting shows affect your ability to enjoy being out?

RP: Yeah, it really does, especially if I'm doing a photo booth since I'm pretty much locked on that. When people see me doing it, they probably think it's just drinking and pushing buttons, but there are a lot of things I'm thinking about. I always have to be aware of the lighting situation, and if I get a notion of a shot in my head, it's like the waiting game. I'll frame it up and wait for it to happen and click. I really don't get to pay as much attention to the music as I'd like to.

CP: What's the most difficult aspect of event photography?

RP: It's like with any performance: there's the warm up. Usually, I'm there way early, before anybody else at the event. People start trickling in. It might be me and like 15 other people, and it's weird to approach two people standing way off by themselves and be like, “Can I get a picture of you guys?” That's weird. At some parties and events, there's still an element of stuffiness to it, where it's not totally appropriate to completely inject yourself into the performance aspect of it, so you have to consider that as well. Usually, once I've been on the scene and hour or two, it's all good.

CP: Why do you focus on event photography instead of more traditional fine art subjects like architecture or landscapes?

RP: (Laughs.) I think we've got enough pictures of buildings and birds and stuff like that. Even in my fine art photography, I look for things that are rare and ephemeral. I try to compose things that have a lot of narrative built in, and with an event, that's an easy, artificial way to inject narrative. I shoot a lot, and when I'm in the post process, when I'm editing it down, I don't try and put together and intense story, but I try and get an introduction, rising action, falling action and conclusion. I try to do that with my sets whenever I can.

CP: How do you choose which events to shoot? Do people approach you?

RP: A lot of people invite me out to things. I used to go to everything I was invited to, but that was a nightmare because I'm in school and I have other obligations like a proper social life. Now, I still do the big events for pay, but I try to look for, not necessarily smaller events, but events that may not be on other people's radar. I've been doing sci-fi conventions lately, and those have been a blast. It would probably never occur to a lot of people to check those out. They probably think it's just a bunch of geeks and nerds, and in fairness, it is, but there are also some pretty rad people there.

CP: How many nights are you out shooting?

RP: Probably 2-3 nights a week. I usually try and stay at one event a night.

CP: What was the most memorable event you've shot?

RP: Probably the after parties at Con-Nooga. Those were just absolutely wacky. There's this group called Con*tourage, and all they do is just go to cons and throw these huge, themed parties. There was a heavy metal room, a pirate room and a steampunk room. It was so wild running around seeing Vikings hooking up with vampires and nurses hooking up with pirates. It was cool.

CP: Is it weird when people recognize you at an event? Does it make it hard to work?

RP: It's not really helpful, I guess. It's cool going out and being recognized and stuff, but I really relish my privacy and anonymity. In some cases, like at wacky parties, it's great to be like, “Oh, there's the party guy - picture, picture, picture,” but in some cases, you just want to hang back and snipe from the outside. Overall, it's really fun when someone's like, “Oh, you're the party guy, the party Robot dude. High five!”

CP: What do you look for when sorting through your memory card for pictures to post online?

RP: As far as the paring down process is concerned, when I'm waiting for a particular shot, I'll take a lot of pictures and then pick the best, most interestingly composed, best-lit of those. Sometimes, I have to be careful about who I post because people can get in trouble. One woman got in trouble with her sorority. Apparently, they have some sort of rule that you can't dance on a raised surface or something. I wasn't sure what the rule was, so I had to go back and nuke all those photos. For the most part, I look for good energy shots from the crowd, good facial expressions - those things that suggest the movement of the scene. When the lights are at their most crazy, those are always really crazy, too.

CP: Can you get a good shots from a bad party?

RP: Absolutely. Some people have told me that I have this gift of making these tiny events look like there are 200-300 people there.

CP: What was the first event you shot?

RP: It was the second Banger's Ball. It was actually what got me into event photography. I had heard about the first Banger's Ball and that it was a really cool time. I really wanted to go. I was laid off from work, and I was strapped for cash. I saw that they wanted a photographer, and I was like, “I've got this camera. I'll go do it.” I showed up, and it just so happened that it was the only thing I wanted to do. I've been doing it almost non-stop ever since. Since I've started, I think my photo count is something like 43,000. I've already gone through one camera body. They're only good for so many shutter releases, so you have to replace them from time to time.

CP: What do you shoot with?

RP: Right now, I have a Nikon D90. My favorite lens is Tokina 11-16mm. For situations where it's not appropriate to flash, I have 35mm that f-stops down to 1.8.