What a picture!

As some of you may know, I have sometimes been known to strut my stuff as a photographer (of sorts). However, I have never thought of myself as a particularly great photographer. My work is reasonably capable and I’ve been good enough to take a few nice shots in my time, but I seldom reach levels that I would consider as real art. That’s fine by me though and I’m happy enough with what I do.

Of course, beautiful places like south-west Scotland attract photographers like floodlights attract moths. Most days, you can’t throw a rock around here without braining someone with a camera who is waiting for just the right light to get their next shot. Many of these folks are keen amateurs or tourists visiting the region on holiday, but we also have a healthy crop of professional photographers working in the region. And today, I’d like to introduce you to one of the best – step forward and take a bow Mr Kim Ayres!

Some photographers specialise in huge landscapes, while others zoom in on tiny details of nature and the world around us. Some are inspired by the night sky, while others take on the challenge of providing the perfect wedding photograph. Kim probably falls into the general category of being a portrait photographer, but that description hardly does justice to his amazing images. He is more than capable of providing the standard studio portrait, but where his work really shines is in his narrative photography. This is where he calls upon a trusty band of local set designers, make-up artists, hairdressers and other professionals to help him take photographs that elevate simple portraits and publicity shots into vivid, creative works of art. Check these out!

And these are just a handful of the stunning photographs that Kim has created. What makes his work stand out for me isn’t just his obvious technical ability with the camera, lighting, composition, etc. but his overall vision. He not only captures an image of his subjects, but he captures something of their spirit and what they’re all about. His individual portraits can be intriguing, sometimes telling you something about the character of the person in the photo, at other times hinting at different aspects of who they are or what they do.

Similarly, his publicity and promotional photographs for businesses and other organisations go beyond the tired old cliches of “worker talking to customer” or “smiling person handing random item to other smiling person”. For example, when working on a promo shoot for the Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes charity, it would have been very easy just to come up with a nice photo of one or two blood bikes, zooming along the road. In fact, that’s probably just the kind of predictable thing I might have suggested, but not Kim. His shoot (featured at the top of this post) involved a huge number of bikes and bikers, medical equipment, actors (patient, nurses, doctor) and, as it turned out, a very tall cherry-picker crane to allow the photograph to be taken at all! And the result speaks for itself – it’s a cracking image that tells you just what the Blood Bikes are all about.

Is it at all surprising that this man’s photographs can be found adorning glossy magazine covers and winning photography awards?

Also, leaving aside the actual photography for a moment, I should probably mention that he’s also a really nice guy and good fun to talk to.

So…if you’re in the market for that extra-special portrait that captures the real you or you know someone who needs some top-notch creative imagery to promote their business or charity, you know who to call:

https://www.kimayres.co.uk

Tell him Adrian sent you.