Bio

Hannant, born in Toronto, Canada, traveled extensively with his family throughout his childhood. He lived in Lagos, Nigeria; Vienna, Austria; Johannesburg, South Africa and following school moved on to live in Teheran, London and several cities in Canada and the U.S.

As a commercial editor and later a nationally recognized commercial director/cameraman, he came across beautiful and moving images on set when he was least expecting them; sometimes while focusing 35mm motion cameras on close-ups, other times as he turned the camera aside to get off the dolly and a lot of times in the editing room at the end of shots where the camera slowed and the exposures change.

These images were mostly not usable for the concepts that he was shooting for his clients, but he decided to return to them later and develop these ideas as still images.

While his commercial work required a lot of pre-production and utilized large crews in environments where he needed extreme control, Hannant chose to maintain the control, but shed the need for personnel for his photography: "For each series, I spend a few days buying props, formulating ideas and considering and reconsidering the mood I am going for. Then I shoot entirely by myself on small sets that I build in my studio."

For his commercial work Robert has been recognized by the New York Art Directors Club, The One Show, The British D&AD, Texas Tops and has been awarded Addies in several markets throughout the States. He has shown at Revolution Gallery in Dallas, The Darkroom, Homespace Gallery and Studio 527 in New Orleans.