There’s something about John von Pamer’s stunning photography. His images carry an almost old-fashioned artfulness, but with a few post-modern punk rock edges we just can’t quit.
Since shooting his first independent project six years ago, this NYC-based art director and photographer has continued to produce commercial work that feels a lot more like art than advertising. His unique images can be spotted in cookbooks (like this local fave), campaigns for Apple and MOMA, and inside a few printed favorites from Vanity Fair to New York Magazine. John also happens to be the husband of one of our fave green beauty lady bosses — Kerrilynn Pamer of NYC’s CAP Beauty.
We’ve admired his work all over CAP’s world for years, and finally asked him to join our most art-tastic interview series, where we peek into the studios of favorite creatives and discover the daily habits and inspirations that keep them making magic…
To get the creative juices flowing I…
I just keep working.
Daily necessity:
Meditation, caffeine, wife.
My favorite current project is:
Re-shooting the new CAP website.
Favorite object in the studio:
I’m really digging these fake gold bullion bars that Cindy from CAP brought to a shoot. I keep them just out of frame and use them to bounce light back into the picture.
Latest inspirations:
Clouds and sunsets never get old.
Soundtrack in the studio:
It depends. I’m super into music. Here’s a photoshop/office day: Arrival, Kabon Lerai by Mammane Sani. Mid-morning, Shuttlecock by Ashra. Lunch, Right by David Bowie. Mid-afternoon, Brazil by Luke Abbott. Coffee break, Talk to Me by Reginald Omas Mamode IV. Quitting time, Ridin Round by Kali Uchis.
Shoot days tend to be upbeat all day long. I learned the hard way: Bummer rock does not work on a photo shoot. Flamboyant by Big L, Get on the Floor by Michael Jackson, Sooner or Later by Larry Graham, The New Rap Language by Treacherous Three, Sweetest Meditation by Lord Echo, Still Sound by Toro y Moi, Prisoner by Har Mar Superstar.
Most common visitors to the studio:
Cindy and Kerrilynn from CAP Beauty.
Favorite spots in the neighborhood:
Greenlight Books, Govinda’s in the basement of the Hare Krishna Temple and Greene Grocer. In an ideal world I would see matinees at BAM, but I’m busy these days and you gotta make hay when the sun shines.
Other artists inspiring me right now:
Gregory Halpern, Lorenzo Vitturi, Viviane Sassen and Thomas Wilfred right now, but I always return to Cy Twombly and Irving Penn.
When I’m not in the studio I am here:
I’m kind of a homebody but I try and get into Prospect Park three or four times a week, and the Rockaways as much as possible.
My art styling tool obsession:
Circular mirrors.
Favorite galleries in the city:
Yossi Milo, The Whitney.
Currently reading:
In the Mind Fields by Casey Schwartz, We Are All Stardust: Scientists Who Shaped Our World Talk about Their Work by Stefan Klein.
Organizational item I can’t live without:
Post-it notes, Sharpies, espresso. If someone would make an espresso-ink sharpie that would help me out a lot.
My aesthetic in 3 words:
Moody light explosion.
Current mantra:
As weird and beautiful as possible.
