Q & A | Photographers Mary Caroline Mann + Bobby K. Russell

© Bobby K. Russell

Touring with bands, front row seats, backstage passes—it sounds like the plot of Almost Famous, but it’s also a way of life for photog power couple Bobby K. Russell and Mary Caroline Mann.

Since getting together after a chance meeting at an art gallery, both members of this creative couple have carved a niche for themselves in the local music photography scene and beyond, having shot bands like The All-American Rejects, M83 and The Kills and traveled to places like Paris and Africa—always with camera in tow.

Though getting paid to do what you love is a huge accomplishment, both admit that being in a relationship with someone who does the same thing you do isn’t without it’s complications—like when they compete for the same gig.

CommonCreativ spoke with Bobby and Mary Caroline about what inspires them, their most memorable shoots and what’s next for the dynamic duo.

CommonCreativ: Where are you from?

BR: I am the product of a military family—conceived in the UK, born in Florida and raised in Atlanta.

MCM: Good ‘ol Beaumont, Texas, home of Spindletop and Gator Country.

CC: When did you move to Atlanta?

BR: I moved to the city proper from the suburbs about a year ago. I grew up in White, Ga. (Yes, that is seriously the name of the town.) Right out of high school I moved to Marietta and have been slowly working my way inside the perimeter. I moved to Atlanta for the community, culture, food and experience.

MCM: I moved here in January 2010 to study graphic design at SCAD Atlanta.

CC: What are you favorite subjects to shoot?

BR: I love shooting people and environments. My mom and dad met in Germany while serving in the Air Force. My dad took a ton of photos while serving, so I grew up looking at old photos my parents took while traveling in Europe. I have always loved the idea of capturing people doing what they love in unique places. It’s the reason why I love photographing touring with musicians.

MCM: People, cities, music and different cultures. I love portraits and meeting new people, even if only for a few minutes on the street, I just love connecting with people. Music, I think we all know, there is something so magical about it, and the people involved are some of the most interesting.

© Mary Caroline Mann

CC: What inspires you?

BR: My biggest inspirations are the people around me. I just believe that loving and serving people is the most important thing you can do with your life. I have been loved and served so well while pursuing my dreams and I just want to give back to people.

Literature plays a huge role in my life. I love J.D. Salinger and C.S Lewis. Wes Anderson directs my favorite movies. I am hugely influenced by his framing and attention to detail. He seems to consistently deliver quality films, and I hope one day my work is comparable to his. I am also influenced by Vintage BMW motorcycles—I am a bit of a dreamer and love the association motorcycles have with freedom, travel and Americana. If you ever see a 1975 BMW R series on the road, you’ll know what I mean.

MCM: So many things—architecture, fashion, design, friends, nature…sometimes all it takes is a walk around the block to spark something new. The song “Canons” by Youth Lagoon has spurred on all sorts of creativity for me recently. Listening to it makes you feel like you’re walking on gold. Seriously! Give it a listen. Great conversations with new people, new environments and different cultures. I once read, “Great artists are great observers,” and it totally stuck with me. I’m always looking around.

CC: You shoot a lot of musicians. What drew you to that?

BR: Music will always be my first love. When I was in fifth grade I won an award for “most musically talented” in the choir. I still have the plaque. In middle school I played saxophone, but when I got to high school I thought I was too cool for that (what an amateur mistake). 
I ditched the sax, started playing bass guitar for some touring bands and realized I should be taking photos of all the interesting places we were. I think the two things that drew me to taking photos of musicians were my love for travel and the romanticized notion associated with living on the road with your best friends in a van.

MCM: I’ve always loved music, and knew early on I wanted a career in the industry, I just wasn’t sure of my place. At first, I thought I would be involved on the label side, but then I picked up a camera. I never fully intended to become a photographer—the pieces just fit.

Anytime I’ve decided maybe I should move on to a more lucrative genre, I’m reminded why I love music photography so much. At shows, the environment changes so often that you’re forced to know your camera really well and think on your feet. You’re always working with a new set of limitations that push you creatively. It’s not uncommon for 10 other photographers to be in the pit with you, and it’s one of my favorite things that we all end up with different photos.

© Bobby K. Russell

CC: Tell me about one of your most memorable gigs.

BR: One of my favorite photography assignments was when I got to shoot a band called Relient K in Orlando, Fla. One of my friends was out with the band and asked if I wanted to come hang out with them at Universal Studios. Not only did we get to ride all of the rides at Universal, we got to skip all of the lines. I even got to take photos of the band playing that night before we drove through the evening back to Atlanta. Not a bad day by my standards.

MCM: I’ve gotten to shoot some of my favorite bands, (the kind that I’ve listened to since eighth grade and still drool a little when I hear they are making a new album), but the most memorable has to be a recent project that took me to a few countries in Africa. The assignment was to capture the “heart” of the cities with the organization Passion Conferences. I got to stand on top of a mountain overlooking Cape Town the same week I wandered through slums in Kampala. The whole experience was surreal. I don’t think I will ever forget it.

© Mary Caroline Mann

CC: Who would your dream photo shoot be with?

BR: Ryan Adams is at the very top of my list of people I would love to photograph. His music is rooted in alternative country, but it oftentimes transcends genres, and I love that. I love how his persona exudes into his music. It would rule to get to shoot a portrait session with him and talk about Star Wars.

I would also really love to shoot Butch Walker. I grew up going to high school in Cartersville at the same school that he did and had some teachers that taught him while he was there. I would love to do a portrait series with Butch in his hometown.

MCM: This changes pretty frequently, but always Bob Dylan. What a legend! I would love to hear some stories from his touring days. Or Jonsi—I would love to photograph a Jonsi tour. His visuals are some of the best I’ve ever seen and his music is out of this world. As a true child of the ’90s, I’m still a Mary Kate and Ashley super fan. I think their clothing lines are genius, and if I ever had the chance to do some backstage [photography] at one of their shows, I would love that. Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Adele—I would love to go on tour with one of those powerhouses.

CC: What are some of your favorite local projects and artists right now?

BR: My favorite local musicians right now are Quiet Hounds and the artist Evan Andree. My favorite art project right now is the Atlanta BeltLine revival. The work adds so much character and life to the city, and I love seeing the projects pop up everywhere.

MCM: Flux! I love all their little pop-up projects; they never fail to make me smile. A few of my favorites are Roadside Haiku by John Morse, Ocean by Caroline Lathan-Stiefel, and Seat by Brian W. Brush and Yong Ju Lee.

CC: Do you have any upcoming projects in the works?

BR: I have been working on adding more portrait and lifestyle work to my portfolio, so I have some personal work in that area lined up. Also, Mary Caroline and I have started to work on more video projects, and we just released our first tour documentary video for local Atlanta band Ocean is Theory.

MCM: I’ve been talking to a few friends about maybe going to Iceland next year. I think that could make for a beautiful project. Other than that I’m just working on building more of a portfolio for video. All I know is that I want to see the world and take photos along the way. Maybe that’s on a tour, or maybe it’s some other way. I’m 23, so I feel OK about still figuring it out.

CC: How did you two meet?

BR: Mary Caroline and I met in 2010 at the opening of an art gallery here in Atlanta. A lot of our mutual friends had planned on attending, but we were the only ones who showed up. The event turned out to be different than we had expected, so I offered that we could either go our separate ways or try and make something of an otherwise average evening. We settled on a rooftop expedition followed by a trip to a restaurant neither one of us had heard of. We sat on the patio of the restaurant for thirty minutes before a song on the radio simultaneously [made us feel] that something was unusual. We looked around the restaurant and it became clearly visible that we had been at a gay bar.

CC: Have you ever competed for gigs?

MCM: Funny you should ask. The past six months, this has come up more than I think Bobby and I would care to admit. We both love music photography and traveling, so there have definitely been jobs we both wanted. What we’re trying to practice and live is knowing we are where we need to be and to celebrate each other’s victories. There will always be a job we don’t get—it just gets a little more complicated when the person you want to console you is the person who just outbid you. You do the best you can do and everything else falls into place. We are learning a real sense of humility through it all.

CC: In addition to being photographers, you both refer to yourself as storytellers. How does that factor into your work?

MCM: There are a million photographers out there (which, for the record, I am not knocking). The more the merrier, right? However, there is a difference in taking a photo and telling a story. We are not so interested in taking cool photos. Really, anyone can take a cool photo. It’s quite formulaic—put a cool person in front of a cool wall with a smug, cool face. But really, who cares? Everyone and everything has a story, whether it’s an indie band trying to fight their way through a lonely tour or a paper company conveying the purpose of their product. There is something captivating in all of it. We love finding that and then inviting people into that story.