Wesley Hort » portrait photography

New Work: Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize Entry

Wesley — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 11:25:01 +0000

This year was the first I actually got round to entering some work into the NPG Taylor Wessing portrait prize. It has been my intention over the last few years to enter but something has either come up or I just missed the deadline. So I was pleased that this year I made the deadline and entered a few pieces. I was mildly disappointed yesterday to find out I didn’t make it through to the final stages but that wasn’t really the goal. Of course to have my photographs in the National Portrait Gallery would have been an amazing honour but the real feeling of achievement I got was just from producing new images. Photographs that I believed in personally, that didn’t have to conform to a brief or someone else’s creative vision.

And I got to photograph Charles. Charles is someone I have been wanting to photograph for a long time and this was the opportunity I needed. Charles is the father of a good friend of mine and you will rarely meet someone so dignified, calm and genuinely hospitable. He is from Ghana and the village he is from, his family are the ‘Chiefs’ of the village. Charles turned down the opportunity to become the chief, allowing the privilege to pass on to his brother, choosing to stay in London and raise his family instead. I am sure that he thought I was quite mad wanting to photograph him, however he was more than gracious with his time and I felt I was able to capture the serenity that he embodies.

The other piece of work I entered was a portrait of a sports climber, who I photographed as part of a ongoing project. I shot this on medium format black & white film to give me the texture that I felt would match the scene.

The talented Miss Lealea Jones

Wesley — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:43:21 +0000

This is actually a shoot from last year but I’m a bit slack when it comes to posting new work and besides these shots are only just beginning to roll out. Lealea Jones is a very talented songstress from hackney with a very bright future ahead of her. As well as supporting acts such as Jay Z, Beyonce & Amy Winehouse; she has also been asked to pen a song for Rihanna! She is also great to watch live, with a sassy, jazzy style that I love. Check out her music on http://lealeajones.com or http://www.myspace.com/lealeajones and make sure you follow her on twitter @lealeajonesuk. Anyway here are a couple of my favourite shots from the shoot… And thanks to Lealea for letting me put her on a pillar on a windy hackney roof! The girls got it where it counts…

Magdalen College Ball, Oxford

Wesley — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:05:44 +0000

I covered this event with my friend Rob from theballphotographers and we had a great time. I enjoy covering these events as the students are lovely to deal with and even though taking the formal ball photographs can be a bit of a conveyor belt process, we still had a laugh and got some great shots. I also feel photographing the balls at Oxford is a privilege and allows an insight into a world that has great tradition and history. The buildings and architecture are amazing both inside and out giving you great backdrops to shoot with. We set up near the rear gates for the formal portraits and with a few studio lights we had a setup that saw us through the night. Here are a few favourites, a mixture of formal and reportage images:

Flair Photography Entry for Creativematch

Wesley — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Entered the monthly competition over at creativematch.co.uk.

See my work in the creativematch flair competition