Someone You Should Know: Top agricultural photographer

GARRETSON, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Robb Long first started snapping photos while growing up in Richmond, Virginia.

“I started photography at the age of 14 and started shooting professionally at 16 for the Richmond Times Dispatch. And that love of photography came from just being curious and adventurous,” said Robb.

Eventually, Robb would leave the media to take a different kind of picture.

“What happened was there was a big shift in advertising photography, leading more toward authentic, real imagery. And being a photojournalist really set me up for success in that field,” said Robb.

A job at Sanford Health led him to this region. After moving to Garretson, where he now lives with his wife and three kids, the lens pointed to something new.

“We’re around all these farms and all that kind of stuff. I was curious about it. I remember probably back in 2014 or 2015, the creative director at Paulson called me up and said, ‘Hey, we really love your photography. Would you like to come out and shoot an agricultural campaign for Kubota tractors?’ And I was like, ‘What’s a Kubota tractor?’” said Robb.

Robb did that and has since become one of the top ag photographers in the world, with his work in a number of major publications.

“I absolutely just fell in love with it. I fell in love with the people of South Dakota, and I fell in love with the farming lifestyle — and then went out onto farms and just started shooting on my own personal projects. Guys in combines working the fields, seed companies, all that sort of stuff. 98 percent of my projects are all agriculture,” said Robb.

Now his business Robb Long Photo and Video takes him places.

“We’re a global production company. So we have photographed on pig farms in Europe, and we also photographed for Nutrena Animal Feeds out in California. I was just in North Dakota shooting a couple of campaigns up there,” said Robb.

He’s been featured in Archive Magazine’s top 200 ad photos worldwide, for three books in a row.

“Everyone seems to love the authenticity. And they like how I also put in a human element into the agricultural photography I do. I just don’t photograph the machines — I have people operate them, do a lot of lifestyle stuff around the machines. 90 percent of all of the ad campaigns I do, I will source a lot of the talent right from town here. They’ll see themselves on a billboard, and they’ll take a picture and send it to me. It’s really kind of exciting. It’s a lot of fun,” said Robb.