RANGE ROVER AT THE ROCKING V

At the recent media ride-and-drive for the all-new 2013 Range Rover, lunch was at the Rocking V Café in Kanab, Utah. When we found out that owner Victor Cooper was an acclaimed local photographer and knew some of the coolest Grand Canyon photo locations, we gave him the keys to a 2013 Range Rover and asked him to snap away. His best shots are now hanging on the cafe walls.

So Victor, how did the photo shoot come about?

The Land Rover folks stopped by one day scouting for a place to have lunch for their upcoming media event for the new Range Rover. They saw some of my landscape photographs on the walls and we started talking about great locations they could use for photography. Their idea for the shoot was to capture the car in the local landscape by someone who really understood the power of the surrounding geography and that’s where I came in.

What’s your background?

I was a news cameraman for 25 years. I worked for CBS in Moscow, flew on Air Force One and filmed on stage with Brooks & Dunn, to name just a few of my adventures. My wife Victoria is from Utah, and in April of 2000, we moved here to Kanab and opened the Rocking V Cafe in the town’s original Mercantile, built in 1892. I’ve always loved still photography, and there’s no finer place in the world to take pictures than here around the Grand Canyon.

So where did you go to photograph the new Range Rover?

I had a list of 26 locations but ended up using only four. Jim Swett, one of the Land Rover Driving Instructors, came with me to help position the vehicle. We started out at a place called Gunsmoke Point since it boasts a famous overlook to Kanab Creek that flows into the Grand Canyon. It’s amazing; you can drive a vehicle right to the very edge. We also shot in the Glen Canyon Recreational Area. There’s so much choice in this beautiful area that you really can’t go wrong with any spot you choose. All the locations we used were areas open to the public and we adhered strictly to Tread Lightly clearing our tracks after we’d finished.

What did you think of the new Range Rover?

I absolutely loved it. We had it for a couple of days and now I know why people call it one of the world’s best SUVs. I was just amazed at what it could do and where it could go. We travelled up part of Hog Canyon Trail where the journalists did their toughest off-roading and I swear the new Range Rover seemed to defy gravity. 

So what were you serving at the cafe when the journalist stopped for lunch?

We had our world-famous Kanab-A-Dabba-Doo burger on the menu, which was very popular and Chana Masala, which is an Indian stew of chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, carrots and zucchini. We also framed six of my favorite Range Rover photos and hung them up around the restaurant. I hope the journalists and Land Rover team enjoyed the photos hanging on the walls as much as I enjoyed taking them!