NIGHT SHIFT The end of the night and the end of a shift has always been an interesting time for me. Capturing the moments of calm after the storm, of tired feet finding a peaceful few minutes while going about their final tasks in the last hours of the day. In younger days I was on the other side of the glass, watching passers-by stare in on their way past. Now I am looking for those images, finding those moments around the city at night, particularly on my own doorstep around the newly regenerated and gentrified establishments of Finnieston.
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BANKS Banks Mining site at Shotton, Northumberland, is the country’s largest opencast mine. I wanted to document the industrial heritage and rich history associated with the area and this company in particular, which attracts skilled miners from all corners of the country. The clear ethos at Banks Mining is to ensure sustainability and that the regeneration of their mine sites exert minimal environmental impact upon their surroundings. Although challenging, I found that this environment lent itself well to the style of portraiture I wanted to achieve.
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LOCH LOMOND & THE TROSSACHS NATIONAL PARK Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park became the stunning backdrop to a day spent capturing imagery for the Visit Scotland Year of Food and Drink 2015. Nestled in this amazing glen, chef Tom Lewis of the Monachyle Mhor, will be setting up a pop up restaurant taking its inspiration from the spectacular surroundings and providing a truly unique fine dining experience. While isolated and logistically challenging, it was a real pleasure for me to shoot outdoors in these beautiful locations on home soil. The results make the extra effort all the more worthwhile.
216 On my return to Glasgow and to SWG3, I had the chance to set up a studio on an open doors night. This provided an opportunity for me to meet some of the new creative blood from in and around Glasgow.Â
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COOPERAGE The Clyde Cooperage was initially set up in the 1850s in Kelvinhaugh in Glasgow. Now a part of the Edrington Group and at its present day site in West Caulder, the coopers still use traditional tools and methods to recondition and repair the barrels for the ageing of whisky As with Banks Mining, here it was the sense of tradition, inheritance and industrial history which I wanted to capture.
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FISHING The West Coast of Scotland is a stunningly beautiful location, particularly from the water. I completed two days out at sea on both a trawler and this creel boat. It was a real insight into two different ways of fishing, but one very challenging way of life. Despite being at the mercy of the sea and the ever changing weather conditions, the men I met had salt water in their veins. The creel captain was a young local lad from the small island of Ewe where he grew up with his father and his grandfather who were both fishermen. He left the island to study in Glasgow but before long he yearned to get back to what he had always known and loved. This boat “The Bright Horizon” is infamous among local fleets as the boat that will venture out in the most adverse of weather conditions.
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Over the last ten years of being a photographer I have had the privilege and experience of working with some of the world’s most prolific photographers. This has given me the opportunity to work with a number of the biggest brands and agencies in the world. This includes: Working with Walter Chin, one of America’s top fashion photographers, shooting covers for Q Magazine with Danish music photographer Soren Starbird and working for two years with Alex Telfer. As well as working on campaigns for the American pharmaceutical company, Cyramza, I have also worked on shoots for Martini, Guinness, Easyjet, and HP amongst many others. These are all experiences in which I have taken a lead role and through absorbing the details I have applied many of them to my own style and approach to photography, enabling me to produce the rich emotive images I create for my clients. I specialise in people and their environments. Lifestyle and documentary feature in my work but I find my focus increasingly drawn to environmental portraiture. This summer has given me the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects across a wide range of subjects. I photograph because I am interested in people. Whether I am photographing on assignment, or for personal work, the same ideas attract my attention. I feel my photography is characterised by finding a tension point between intimacy and edginess. My portraits are often regarded as cinematic in tone with a distinctive colour palette that has been drawn from being inspired by the stylesof photographers such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Gregory Crewdson. The ideas of composition are influenced by my admiration for the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. To see more go to www.weskingston.co.uk To discuss any work please call 07746 889 466 or just email us to say hello@weskingston.co.uk
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Wes Kingston Photographer Mobile: +44(0)7746 889466 Studio: +44(0)141 6280508 www.weskingston.co.uk