My next guest is Reuben Wu, a National Geographic photographer and visual artist known for using drone mounted lights to turn real landscapes into surreal night scenes. He shot the August 2022 National Geographic cover story on Stonehenge, a project that went on to win Online Storytelling Project of the Year in the Pictures of the Year International competition, and he has created imagery for major clients including Apple, Mercedes Benz and Google. Before that, he spent a decade touring the world as a founding member of the electronic band Ladytron, co writing and producing songs that led to global tours and platinum pop collaborations.
In this conversation, Reuben talks about stage fright and public speaking, the strange freedom of being the “invisible” guy in a successful band, and the night in the California desert that sparked his drone lighting experiments. He walks through the long road to the Stonehenge assignment, the technical and political hurdles of lighting a world heritage site, and how that work opened doors into NFTs, AR activated prints, and projection mapped installations. He also speaks frankly about creative burnout, AI as a tool rather than a threat, and how raising three kids has changed his sense of risk, time, and legacy as an artist.
