Photographer Robert Lundberg Navigates the Pandemic

Robert Lundberg is a photographer and artist that needs to be on your radar NOW. The craftsman who has taken his camera on a journey the past several years, has been navigating the pandemic the best way he knows how; creating.

The New York-by-way-of-Boston native has been increasingly finding his niche as he quickly makes his way throughout the East Coast, which has found him shooting some of the most influential artists of our time. Lundberg goes where ever his eye and spirit takes him. The photographic portion of Uncontaminated Sound, breaks the boundaries of celebrity and civilian, which has allowed Lundberg to capture the likes of Sinbad, Louie Anderson,The National, Walter Martin and more.

Matt Berninger (left) singer of The National, with his filmmaker & artist brother Tom Berninger (Right) - 2020

Launching right before the start of quarantine times in early 2020, the initial interviews that jumped into the series were filmed in person, starting first with comedian Mike Cannon. As the course of time started to change, Lundberg marched on, and moved the interviews over to Zoom. This allows him to speak with artists from all over the world, right from the comfort of his home in Beacon, New York. Uncontaminated Sound: The Series premieres bi-weekly via V13 Media, and has already garnered over half a million views and counting.

We had the pleasure of catching up with the up-and-coming artist legend for a brilliant interview that takes us into his magical world, below.

Watch the series here:

https://www.youtube.com/channe...

Artist Ron Artist at his home in Beacon, New York 2020

Shifting gears within the pandemic, how have you translated your photographic work of
Uncontaminated Sound, into video form?

As we’ve all had to adapt drastically to these current times, so did my concept of Uncontaminated Sound. From the initial still series I started to mull over ideas on how to build off the idea of the “real” that I sought out in my photographic work. It was actually late 2019 when I started fleshing out the idea, asking myself what was I lacking with just still work, which after some time mulling such questions over, it became clear that what a still photograph lacks is the complex life factors that drove the performer to such a career path. To derive such information, one has to converse with the individual of interest directly, thus it was that December I completed my first interview with comedian Mike Cannon at Arlene’s Grocery in the Lower East Side.

With a little Canon handy-cam, a LED panel, and an actual handheld mic I kicked off Uncontaminated Sound: the interviews, if one notices this is how I conducted the first 5 episodes (if I am correct). The idea was starting to build traction, and then of course the pandemic hit and I had to take to Zoom. However, going digital allowed more access to interesting creators all over the states/globe, plus viewers were able to see myself interact in a genuine manner (in comparison, I initially started with a singular subject in-frame and external interviewer dynamic) with other artisans. So on that matter, I think the pandemic helped me connect to a boarder artist and viewer base whom all desperately wanted to connect over culture. And with that I consider it an honor to meet and have met so many diverse and highly talented individuals on all levels on the creative spectrum.

Oh yeah, I also partnered with Toronto based V13media to distribute the series on a bi-weekly schedule, with #50 conversations out and more coming I can’t believe how time flies! Hopefully people continue to enjoy!

With the video interview series, what do you look to convey with each interviewee? What do you
hope to get from them, and where do you hope the conversation takes you?

Well, I like to keep to this structure built upon (in the back of my mind at least) questioning the
complex life factors that drove an individual to a life of creativity, and why they still continue
forward. I’m always curious about the why, the cumulative experiences and driving forces that
led an artist towards their profession. Of course I always love to chat process, about any current
work, and influences, but what I really look forward to is a truly authentic conversation that may
lead from craft to philosophy to literature or food! Anything really, I love not knowing where
things will go. Additionally, I’m really engaged in collecting all these new ideas, music, art, etc,
that I’ve never been exposed to. I guess one could say the underlying driving factor for the
series is: my quest for a deeper knowledge of our contemporary culture and attempting to build
a deeper world perspective off of that.

I mean it’s rare this days to find authenticity in a post social media world, so simply I hope a
conversation comes off as if I were having a coffee or beer with said individual.

Do you prepare for the interviews? Do you do full research or is it on the fly with the
initial conversation dictating the direction?

Good question, I really try not to come in with any expectations coming into a conversation, this
allows for a more natural rapport and to me more importantly an authentic interaction. It’s fun to
attempt to strike up an energetic discussion based off little to no background information, or one
shall say a complete stranger. To add, initially when I was going on site I did conduct deeper
research along with producing in hand pre-thought out questions, just as a guide to wax poetics if
I lost my train of thought, however the results came off a bit too un-natural too "Q&A ie” which
was not my intention with this series.

Things started to become more fluid when I moved onto the Zoom platform, in which I generally
dive into an artist’s work beforehand just to attempt to grasp an overview of whom they are, but
that’s about it. At the agreed upon time, we just pop into a digital window and the conversation
beings.

It’s funny I still get this nervous excitement pre-conversation, right before the session starts, my
mind’s like I hope we have a good energy, don’t come off too naive, etc. In the end I just want
the discussion to be enjoyable and or valuable to the viewers.

So far, who has been your most personally captivating guest on the series and why so?

Hmm, always a tough question, in my point of view every guest I’ve had on the series is
captivating. However, for your readers I’ll go deeper.

Let’s see well then I’d have to say the Ron English interview. This one stands out because it was
so cool and kind of surreal to be invited into the home of this world renowned artist, and in
which being surrounded by his art objects we engaged in an almost two hour discussion one in
which his wife had to cut us short. This was in February 2020 right before the pandemic took
hold.

Also another really cool experience this time via Zoom was interviewing artist, filmmaker, and
art director Tom Berninger. Tom of course is Matt Berninger’s brother (lead singer of the
National), and mid discussion Matt just popped into the room, streaming live on Instagram
telling fans his brother was in the midst of a podcast interview, and of course I was thrown off
track and kinda mumbled a nervous wave and hello. Ahh, one never knows what will happen in
this new Zoom universe, but that was super cool.

I hope that answer’s your question.

With 2021/2022 a bit of touch and go in the pre-pandemic world, where do you see Uncontaminated Sound heading towards this year?

Another good question and one that I am currently wrestling with, I mean there are so
many external variables outside my control these days. Despite those externals I’m currently
hashing out a proposal for a possible gallery/auction show based off of all the artisans I’ve
spoken to on the interview series, imagine the diverse array of work! During the summer I’ve
been volunteering my time at a non-profit gallery and performance space in Long Island City,
Queens, NY named the Culture Lab at LIC, its a beautiful space and I hope possibly to turn the
show into a benefit where both the space and artists benefit from the event. Sounds grand, but
who knows with the ever delta variant out there. Also I’d love to start hashing out some plans to
turn Uncontaminated into a full fledged film documentary, not sure if I’d pull that off by year’s
end but I do hope to pull a live event off….even it turns out as a small outdoor gathering.

Do you have any plans to turn the interview series into a live format, in regards to a roundtable in front of an audience ? (or something along those lines)

I do! Which I am also currently pitching to a few venues as we speak. Placing myself on stage
would act as a kind of transition, one that would place me in a position that I’ve never been in :
that of stage performer. It would be a surreal and drastic juxtaposition from being behind the lens
to being in front of an audience, weird, but also I think one that would push the series and myself
further.

I imagine the format as either one or two individuals or even a roundtable with a variety of
artisans from diverse mediums, as I’d like to curate a unique conversational experience. So to
add to the previous question I’d love to pull a live conversation off by the end of the year as well,
but we will see…

In the next year, who are some of your dream artists to capture not only photographically, but in
the interview series as well?

This always trips me up, because I’m generally willing to capture and converse with artists at all
levels and mediums and generally I’m bad at name recognition. Though it’d cool to capture or
speak to the likes of artist David Choe, directors Sofia Coppola and David Lynch, and going into
fine art Marina Abramovic would be amazing, same if we dive into lyricists in the likes Ms.
Lauyrn Hill and the group Cunninglynguists, also I’d like to dive into writers and authors more
as well. And oh yeah I’d certainly like to link up with Adam Driver too. But these are names that
come to mind at this hour, I’m sure if I’ve replied to similar questions the answers would all be
different, I just like interesting creative persons…

Find more of Robert Lundberg's work online:
http://rlundberg.com

https://www.instagram.com/unco...