Creative Genius Instagrammer – Rich McCor

-“Everywhere you go, look up. You’ll notice things you’ve never seen before, even if you’ve walked down that road thousands of times before. And when you start noticing new things, you start getting new ideas and you can do great things with new ideas”. – Rich McCor.

For those of you who already know Rich McCor, Yes! The famous Instagrammer @paperboyo. Le Amusant is very excited to be featuring him today on our Blog~Azine. Rich was warm enough to accept my invitation to interview him. I dumped him with all my crazy curious questions about his artistic flair. Yes! a very special kind of Art – “Photography Of Famous Landmarks With Quick-Witted Silhouettes”, charming more than 188k admirers across the world on Instagram, which I stumbled about one fine morning and could not stop scrolling down.. and down.. and down.. on his facebook page and started to stalk his work since then!

Rich McCor – Someone once said “Go out and transform the world”. I took it literally!

Rich McCor based in London, United Kingdom, works for a creative agency but spends his free time transforming landmarks around the world into whimsical and humorous scenes. His new style of art recently caught the eye of Lonely Planet, who found his works to be inspiring and offered him the chance to travel and pursue his passion (now isn’t that a dream job!). Rich was really kind to take his time out and share his journey so far, about his creative process, the effort that goes into making those awesome moments.    

“Last year it occurred to me that after having lived in London for four years, I’d taken it for granted; the landmarks and iconic features in my city had almost become invisible due to their familiarity. This inspired me to pick up my camera and start looking at these landmarks behind a viewfinder and appreciate them more. Whilst exploring London with my camera I had the idea of turning Big Ben into a wristwatch with a paper cut-out. After that I began looking at other landmarks in a new way and developing ideas for them. My style of photography evolved from there and it led to an Instagram following which has taken me around the world.

Big Ben Watch!

Pop culture is usually my biggest inspiration- the key is to come up with a simple enough idea that people will instantly recognise, and usually that works well with film references. That said, there’s no formula. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for something immediately and other times it will only be after an hour of looking at a piece of architecture until I have an idea.

Before I travel to a city I’ll spend a fair bit of time researching popular landmarks in that city, as well as other un-usual buildings, statues etc. I’ll then make the cutouts before I travel (which is a bit of a risk because it sometimes means I don’t quite get the size or design right, but if I were to design and cut the cut-outs on location then that wouldn’t leave me much time to explore). As a result of that usually 2 out of 10 ideas completely fails. There’s a folder on my desktops full of photo failures from around the world.

 

Behind The Scenes

The Perfect Shot: It takes about 30 frustrated minutes of shooting endless photos until the wind stops for long enough that the paper doesn’t flap, the sun is in just the right spot and my hand is able to hold the camera without shaking so that I can get the snap I want. Even then I’ll usually take a further fifty or so shots to make sure I’ve definitely got a good shot.

Favorite Shoot: I love the UFO in Copenhagen photo- it’s one of my first ones. It’s simple and effective and still makes me smile.”

UFO @ Copenhagen Cirkelbroen

Rich shoots these famous landmarks with interesting silhouette cutouts that looks more than perfect to these subtle eyes. Some of them are just extraordinary. He clearly adds a creative and fictious blend to these landmarks from his thoughts. Below are some of his outstanding pieces that will definitely make you fall in love with his work. The minuscule details that has received his very attention ensures that he takes his work very seriously and passionately.

He has also carried his share of passion on to shooting Disney and Television Series like House Of Cards – He clearly nailed Frank Underwood’s sexy features accurately making it look so surreal. My favorite would be his Marilyn Monroe, Spidey and the Autumn Ballet shots.

Autumn Ballet

Marlyn Monroe

Frank Underwood- HOC

Rich started his journey from his Home State and is now travelling across the Globe. His next stop is Ice Land.

Future Plans: “There’s a lot of activity and engagement with video content, so it would be great to team up with someone who’s equally passionate about travelling and who can film too..” (You read that right! I have nothing else to say other than Read Between The Lines!!) “.. I think it would be fun to create a series of YouTube films about looking at cities in a new way- both literally through my photography and then figuratively through trying out unusual local experiences.”

Well, we would love to see you soar places and create some amazing stories that will keep inspiring us! Looking forward to see more of your works and experiences especially through the YouTube Channel.

Having said that we wish Rich McCor a very good luck with his pursuit ahead. You can view and follow Rich’s work on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Just click on the links to take you to his world.

Follow us for more such amazing stories and real life shots.

Until Next Time.