Robb Long: The Living Poster

Minneapolis-based photographer Robb Long has not only extended into motion, he’s teamed up with ad agency Pixel Farm Digital to use a new photographic technique in advertising. This technique, called the Living Poster, combines photography and video to produce a fluid-motion effect. A still photo that you would expect in an advertisement starts to move, as though it has just come to life.

“A little over a year ago, I had the idea to create Living Posters by simply shooting a moving subject on rapid fire with a Canon 1d Mark III,” Robb explained. “We shot a series of frames like a machine gun.” After his editor put them together, the two had to ask themselves: did that poster just start moving?

The technique was based on earlier work by photographer Alexx Henry, whose Living One Sheet uses the Red One System to capture video after the still, then has the subjects go back to the original still.

After honing the living poster technique, Robb was approached by Pixel Farm Digital to take promotional still photos for its client, Fulton Beer, a Minneapolis microbrewery. But Robb had a better idea: he suggested replacing the still photos with Living Posters, extending the campaign to posters in bars, digital billboards, websites, and more. You can see the first example on the Fulton website, and a video is embedded below.

Unfortunately, it looks like the living posters are currently playing hard to get. But don’t worry; Robb is working with Pixel Farm Digital and Fulton to produce three more living posters, which might be more receptive if Donny ramps up his game.

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