Photographer Robert Rosen snaps celebrities in unguarded moments — often with their permission

Over the course of his four-decade career, Robert Rosen has had countless, fleeting, late-night encounters with iconic household names.

Often it was at a party or a nightclub and he would usually be holding a glass of champagne and a pocket camera.

The social and fashion photographer photographed the likes of Grace Jones, Nina Simone and David Bowie, often capturing them in unguarded moments.

And his secret for capturing these remarkable shots?

“You have to be invisible sometimes or just blend in,” Rosen tells ABC RN’s The Drawing Room.

One of those celebrities — someone whose print recently sold for nearly $200 million — influenced the direction of his career.

“I met Andy Warhol in London in 1980. I was invited to a party for him and I watched him take Polaroids – and I was inspired,” recalls Rosen.

“After the meeting…I called Polaroid in London…and said I wanted to make a collection of signed Polaroids of famous people.”

The photo company sent him a camera and an unlimited supply of their legendary instant film.

Daniella Parmar and David Bowie at the Blitz Club in London in 1979. (Photographer: Robert Rosen)

Since then he has captured hundreds of portraits of celebrities at parties and nightclubs, both on Polaroid and regular film.

A new overview of his work, Glitterati, is currently on view at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, collecting the best behind-the-lens images of his life.

capture affection

Rosen was often a welcome guest at parties and nightclubs, and the well-known subjects of his photos liked to be posed.

While he enjoyed photographing celebrities, he said he also enjoyed capturing loving moments between them, something he could only do while mingling with everyone else.

“I just put the camera in my bag and security or whoever’s at the door just waved me through — that’s what happened with the Paul McCartney photo, the kissing photo,” he says.

“I just love to see people kissing and that affection and warmth [spilling out] in the room.

Rosen has long collected photographs of well-known people hugging. (Delivered: MAAS/ Robert Rosen)

“Whenever I’ve spoken to someone at a party, I always look over their shoulder. So if I see someone about to kiss, I just say yes [the person I’m talking to]’Sorry,’ and I’ll rush over and take the picture, and then go back and continue our conversation.”

From the suburbs to the catwalks

Rosen grew up in the Melbourne suburbs after his family emigrated from South Africa in 1960.

After high school, he studied photography at Prahran Technical College, but dropped out after a teacher urged him to take a more commercial approach.

Model Anneliese Seubert in the Aurelio Costarella show during Australia Fashion Week 2010, photographed by Rosen. (Photographer: Robert Rosen)

Enjoying capturing interesting characters, he didn’t want to be deterred from his own style and jumped at the opportunity to move to Kings Cross in Sydney.

“Kings Cross was right in the thick of it with the prostitutes in the streets, the drag queens in the little nightclubs and so on. And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s it. I want to be here,’” he says.

He also wanted to be a fashion photographer and started out as a freelancer but didn’t get much work in Sydney.

Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence on his 30th birthday in Sydney, 1990, photographed by Robert Rosen. (Photographer: Robert Rosen)

So in 1975 he moved to London and began roaming the city showing off his portfolio to well-known photographers.

Getting a foot in the door proved more difficult than he initially thought and he couldn’t afford to have his own studio so he worked as a bartender on Kings Road. The city’s nightlife offered many options.

“I had a wonderful girlfriend who was very social, and we went to the hip restaurants and nightclubs like the Embassy Club almost every night,” he says.

At this place, he noticed photographers taking photos of the celebrities who frequented the place. The photographers would sell them to the newspapers the next day.

So Rosen decided to try it too.

“I took my little camera and started taking pictures [the celebrities] and because they knew me, because I was there every night, [they were happy to pose],” he says.

The club’s owner liked his understated style and soon made him the Embassy Club’s official photographer.

Here and many other places in London he took many of his candid celebrity photos.

Singer, songwriter and civil rights activist Nina Simone was photographed by Rosen in London in 1981. (Photographer: Robert Rosen)

Not all glitz and glamor

Building celebrity relationships played a big part in his career, but it wasn’t all glitz and glamor.

When he lived in London he sometimes attended as many as six parties or openings each night.

“My working day started around 6 p.m. in the evening. I went to an art gallery opening or a book launch or something. then [I’d] have dinner at a fabulous restaurant and then hit the nightclubs until three or four in the morning,” he recalls.

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“Then we went to one of these hotels in Piccadilly for breakfast and then we went home and went to bed around 9 or 10 o’clock.”

He laughs at the memories. “I’m still alive. Damn, I still can’t sleep until 2am now.”

Rosen went on to work for various fashion magazines, including Vogue Australia. He often photographed fashion shows with his trademark.

“That started the fashion career of doing catwalks, doing the London shows and then going to the Paris shows,” he says.

After living in London for some time, he returned to Australia and began working for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.

But after 35 years working for the fashion magazines, Rosen retired. Today he lives in Bali, far away from the hustle and bustle of London.

“It gets a bit tiring, you know, all these nights and stuff. And I just thought, well, I’ve done everything I can or everything I want to do.”

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