Nathan J Lester
Profile
“Art is a very personal item that we put on display for everyone to see, it is our vulnerability, art on display is an artist at their most open, art is where artists show their soul, their inner thoughts/fears and dreams. It is an artist exposed, them in a raw state.”
My art comes from within, it is inspired by the world around me and the world I cannot see. I create my art from things that intrigue me. The human form, flowers, people’s private lives and everyday objects.
My nudes are some of my favourite and most satisfying work; the human body is a unique object that comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The human form is a thing of pure beauty. I do not select my models because they are supermodels I choose my models based on shape and form. I find the curves, lines and shapes I need in all variations of the body. I spend hours working with my models to obtain images unique to them. I rarely enter a session with preconceived ideas of what I would like shots to look like; it is purely a collaboration between the models body and my imagination. The models curves and imperfections become my art, the parts that make them distinctive and characterise them, become the focus and subject of my work.
Flowers to me are simplicity and complexity all in one, the texture of the petals and stamens, the form of the flower as a whole. Each flower, just as the nude models, has a character of its own and sometimes it may take a while for the character to appear, but when it does it speaks to me and plays to my camera just like a model does. My portraits of flowers are studies of their uniqueness and their individuality. Different to models I am particular about what flower I photograph, it must have character.
More recently I have turned my attention to objects that are around me, and abstracting them to create visually aesthetic compositions. The world around us is a wonderous place full of amazing objects both man made and natural. Seeing them in a different way opens our minds to the possibilities of the objects. It also a way of slowing myself down to observe the things nearest me instead of rushing past them.
I love to work in my darkroom; it is my domain, free from the destruction and disruption of the world outside. This is where my work becomes reality. I am in my element. The smell of the chemicals in the trays and the music I have playing puts me in the zone and I can work happily for hours.
