#INSPO

#BehindTheCamera
WORDS Kerryn Grady PHOTOGRAPHY Rob McGrory
#INSPO is lucky to be working with some of the North
West’s biggest photographic talents. Rob McGrory, 31,
who shot for our debut Big Bang issue, our exclusive online
‘#Frozen’ editorial, and this month’s super hero-inspired
beauty story, is one of these talents, with a high-profile client
list longer than Giselle’s legs, including the likes of Burberry,
Agent Provocateur, Topshop, Land Rover and Volvic. No
mean feat for a self-taught photographer and retoucher
who joined the industry pretty late on in the game.
Rob got his first camera at age 21, after playing around
with his friend’s digital SLR, and ‘pretty much fell in love with
it instantly.’ He decided a week or two later to ‘spend an
awful lot of money’ and buy a camera (way back in 2004,
when digital SLRs did not come cheap – we’re talking fourfigure
numbers here – thank you student loan and twenty
first birthday money!). Within a matter of months Rob
knew his degree in electrical and broadcast engineering just
wasn’t going to satisfy him. ‘I realised that what I wanted to
do in life is be a creative. I was just starting my final year in
uni and decided this wasn’t for me.’ Throwing caution – and
a future of financial security – into the wind, he dropped out
of John Moores University in September 2004 and threw
himself into photography full-time. The decision not to have
a fall-back career wasn’t taken lightly, but, he explains, ‘if I
did that, I’d take the easy option if I have a bad year, and go
and get an engineering job. If I don’t have that safety net, I
can’t fail. It’s not an option.’
Rob puts his success down to a lot of luck and a lot of hard
work. ‘I learnt everything I could when I first started. I’m
one hundred per cent self-taught. I didn’t go to college or
university, I didn’t assist... I just went straight out for it.’ That’s
the hard work part. Luck played a part when he found a
portrait photographer closing down his studio, and asked
to buy some lighting equipment. ‘It was just sheer luck, and
he was a nice guy. He asked how much I had; I think it was
32 #INSPO Issue 3 | Spring 2015
about £250. He ummed and ahhed and then said okay, go
for it and let me pick and choose what I wanted. It took me
a few trips to and from the studio to my house, and it was
a few years before I could even use some of the equipment,
but I thought, buy it now and learn to use it later!’
In December 2004 he moved his work space out of his dad’s
garage and rented a studio in a converted pub in Liverpool
city centre, as part of an arts community, which taught him
his first real lesson in photography – ‘every photographer
needs to be able to paint walls! Every studio I’ve ever had
has needed gutting and repainting! It’s like a rite of passage!’
The following year he moved down to London ‘like every
young creative, without a job and without a flat!’
Rob is proof that hard work and a genuinely nice personality
can get you far. Despite incredible talent and getting lots
of interviews with good feedback, his struggle came with
having barely two years experience when applying for jobs
requiring 10 to 15 years in the industry. Conversely, when
applying for junior roles, interviewers could see he would only
be there for six months before moving on. But his likeable
demeanour helped him get his big break when applying for
a graphic design job at maternity and childrenswear fashion
brand, Jojo Maman Bebe. Completely unqualified for the
job, he came clean, admitting his skills lay in photography
and retouching. He didn’t get the job. Instead they created
a whole new role for him, as in-house photographer and
retoucher. ‘So that started 12 to 18 months of sheer panic,
teaching myself Photoshop in the evenings, commuting
four hours a day, and working the day job.’ Despite the
exhausting hours and the fear of being asked a question he
couldn’t answer, this was Rob’s first experience of working
in an office surrounded by creatives, and he thrived. ‘I
learned graphic design, I learned marketing, and I learned
how an office works.’