Respect The Shooter: Darbe Rotach Speaks On Photographing LL Cool J, Missy Elliot, Pharrell, & More

Rihanna

This was the second time I was able to photograph the Barbadian beauty and megastar, Rihanna. This was an assignment for People.com. This photograph was taken at Madison Square Garden during her “Last Girl on Earth” tour. My photos from this show ran in newspapers, on websites and in magazines all over the world. I really want to shoot her again someday. She has such a raw and real personality that we don’t see from most celebrities at her level of world renown fame.

Mos Def

This is at the 2001 Coachella Music Festival in California. I was assigned to cover the festival for The Source Magazine. I was only granted access to cover the performances, but in Coachella’s early years, if you knew what you were doing, you could get backstage pretty easily…. and I did. This shot was taken of Mos Def while we waited for a hamburger off the grill, which Questlove and The Roots crew were manning. It was just before The Roots took the stage, in the late afternoon heat. I had been shooting for Dante’s [Mos Def’s] label, Rawkus Records for over a year at the time, so it made relaxed shots like this possible. This shot ran in The Source that Spring.