{"id":2092,"date":"2018-11-09T16:55:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T13:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/?p=2092"},"modified":"2018-11-09T16:55:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T13:55:36","slug":"spotlight-076","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/spotlight-076\/","title":{"rendered":"Subsign Spotlight #076."},"content":{"rendered":"

Wesley’s food photography has left us hungry for more.<\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: I\u2019m a photographer, living in Belgium, born in 1979, most of my work is involved with food & drinks, both commercial and artistic. I\u2019m 100% autodidact & a big dreamer with sometimes to much fantasy.<\/p>\n

Things I hate:<\/p>\n

– Little Spaces
\n– To much walls around me
\n– Dark & cold days
\n– Materialism<\/p>\n

Things I like:<\/p>\n

– Lots of light
\n– Freedom
\n– Long walks on quiet beaches
\n– Art & design
\n– Off course Making image & GOOD food<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: What was your childhood like? Do you think your experiences from childhood have influenced your present creative endeavors?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: As a little boy I was very quiet, but a bit of a little rebel, my dog was my best friend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I left the house at the very young age of 18 years and go live on my own, school & authority was not my thing, but I always had a big love for the 3u. art class. I grew up in a very free thinking & artistic family (like gypsies). My father was an oil-painter, there was also a sculptor in the family and musicians.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In my childhood I started drawing & painting as a hobby with some help of my dad, I was always attracted to light and the way it affects 3-dimensional objects on a 2-dimensional medium. It certainly influenced my later photography work. Things like color-theory (& matching), light, composition, styling, are al very natural for me.
\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: What did you want to be as a grown up?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: For a very long time I didn\u2019t know what to do in my life, maybe for some people there is a path, but for me, it all happened accidentally. For sure was that I wanted a creative job with some freedom ( not the usual 9 to 5 job ), like a painter, digital artist, web developer, photographer, cook, stylist.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I really had no clue at the moment? Because I lived alone, I needed some fast income &I started freelance cooking in restaurant & catering. I loved the job very much & did it for quite a whit lots of passion. It was only a few years later that I started with photographing foods. <\/span><\/p>\n

I immediately fell in love with the whole creative process of it. It was like a combination of all the things I liked in the past, creating, cooking, styling, combining colors & textures, digital editing, making images.<\/span><\/p>\n

Subsign: How does your workstation look like?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: For the moment I work from my home, everything there is open with lots of light, and it is located alone, so I don\u2019t have noise from traffic or neighbors. It’s becoming a bit too small because of all the stuff I need for my photography, especially all the big studio lights and stands take a lot off place. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

For the digital processing I always use apple computers (with the Adobe software), they are the best. My Wacom-drawing tablet is my best friend for editing, I also use many drives to back up my work. I\u2019m a little bit off a tech addict, I love all the digital & technical stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Subsign: Do you have a work style? How would you describe it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: It\u2019s difficult to describe my own style, but after all those years of experimenting with lights, I have developed a certain preference for lighting. It depends on the kind off shot”commercial or personal”. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take, for example<\/span>, some of my personal work is lit by only one light source with a big diffuser. Old painters like Caravaggio\/Vermeer\/ Rembrandt invented the technique, in their painting studios they had only one window, to light their subjects when the hard sunlight was shining through it, they diffused it with sheets & so was the term Chiaroscuro lighting was born.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: Can you share with us how your creative process works?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: I like to do things very intuitive, the night time (with some nice music) is the best moment to work. When there is an idea or a job, I first make some intuitive test shots & play around with styling, color, texture & light to see in which direction to go. Mostly I rely on my senses, they tell me if it feels right or not. Although I have to admit, I am not easily satisfied. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: What is your favorite work you have done so far?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: I like the dark conceptual images from my personal work. They are very minimalist, with a surreal twist, and use very simple lighting. I already won a lot of awards with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: Who do you follow for inspiration?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: I try to follow some trends in food photography on social media channels, and also follow a few photographers in different genres (fashion, product, artistic), a fashion photographer I really like for the way he works with light is Paolo Roversi. Really impressing work, I\u2019m also a big fan of Nando Esteva for his personal work.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: What advice would you give to someone starting out in the creative field of work?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: Know the technicals, but learn to think outside the box & sometimes break the rules. Also be patient with your artistic path, it takes years of practice and self-discipline to develop a certain skill to perfection. After all those years it\u2019s never gonna be perfect, always try to evolve, do not be satisfied too quickly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Creativity doesn\u2019t always come when you need it and this is sometimes a VERY frustrating thing. And keep in mind, it is art, tastes differ from person to person, there will be haters & there will be lovers. Keep on doing what feels good for you. <\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Subsign: If you would have a superpower, what would it be?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: I dream a lot at night, and one that returns quite often is that I can fly like a bird in the sky, it is the most liberating feeling that there exists, so it certainly would be flying like a bird, I really hope to be reborn as a big bird in a tropical wood in a next life, that would be awesome.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: Can you recommend for our readers a book, a song, and a movie?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: The dream of the Red Chamber, By Cao Xueqin, Chinese roman. Thom Yorke, Go Slowly – I want this song to be played on my funeral. Modigliani, Great autobiography story about the personal struggles & demons off an artist, passion & his undying love for one particular woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: I would do a big fundraising party in the color theme white to raise lots of money for medical research in cancer treatment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Subsign: What famous people would you invite to the party and why?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley<\/span>: If he was still alive I would ask David Bowie to play some songs Lady Chef Dominique Crenn & crew to do the catering. Padma Lakshmi, to host to the party, she is such a nice woman & certainly some big politicians to empty there pockets.
\nThey are not famous but can\u2019t be forgotten: my family & few friends. All the specialists & staff who treated me in the hospital (I\u2019m so thankful to them).<\/p>\n

Thank you, Wesley, for being a part of it!<\/p>\n

If you know an artist that should be in the spotlight, contact us at\u00a0jojo@subsign.co<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

For more of\u00a0Wesley’s work, you can follow him on the links: Wesley on Behance<\/a>, Wesley’s portfolio<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wesley’s food photography has left us hungry for more. Wesley: I\u2019m a photographer, living in Belgium, born in 1979, most of my work is involved with food & drinks, both commercial and artistic. I\u2019m 100% autodidact & a big dreamer with sometimes to much fantasy. Things I hate: – Little Spaces – To much walls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2092"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2130,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions\/2130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}