I'm not photographing the model in the classic sense; the model is playing a part in my photographs. It's more like theater. I always work with models I know, and I let them participate in deciding how to act their part.
— Kim Weston
A lot of my work comes from my life experiences.
I was always confident in my art and in myself as an artist.
Growing up, I didn't give my grandfather's photography a second thought. I wasn't involved in his work, except that I helped my dad print his negatives.
What I had to prove was that I had a dedication and a desire and a passion to do the work and everything else would fall in place because I have a vision that I want to portray and it did and I do it. I don't sell anything.
Well, now I'm an old photographer and I still don't sell.
Galleries, and they're all the same, and rightly so, they sell work.
My surprises come usually once I start rolling and photographing.
I tried painting for a short time and realized that I was not a child prodigy at painting.
I don't know, the older I get, the more complicated I think I get, which is a hindrance.
I think the digital camera would record that information too fast for me.
The great thing about this thing we call art is that it has no rules.
That's not to say that some day I won't go outside again, but I'm having a great time working on this process.
It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you're fulfilling that inner need, and for me the need is more the process than the finished product. My photographs are stories of the process.
As an artist you have to have a certain amount of arrogance.
My son does a little photography, but he's not involved the way I was.
I felt no pressure that my grandfather was famous and my uncle was famous.
The gallery is generating work for the masses.
Any nude is a something you setup in front of the camera.
In front of the camera I look and I see visually what I've created.
If you're not going to tell something if you're not going to expose something it's real easy to go in and photograph from behind the camera and not expose any of your weaknesses.
The darkroom is just the means to an end.
To me, that is the essence of me as a photographer. It is those ideas, working with them, formulating them and eventually putting them down on paper, photographing them and then going on to the next step.
We all take from our artistic endeavors what we as individuals need, to make the process unique and fulfilling to ourselves.
I didn't want to travel. I didn't want to leave my family. I heard all these stories from Dad about not having Edward around when he was young, and I didn't want that to happen.
Being a shy person, I always felt strange outside with my camera.
Uncle Brett had a definite vision that he was after, I don't think having a famous father affected him much.
I don't think at that time I realized how important it was and how important it was for me to be here and carry on that legacy in our family of being a photographer.
I just love photographing. I don't do it for anyone else.
If no one wants to jump into a Kim Weston and drive it down the street. That's fine with me I don't care. I know my work is good and I know it's serious work.
You work on an idea, your first interpretation is very raw and you work it and you work it and it gets polished and polished. It gets to a certain level and then it comes down off that peak.
I photographed rocks and trees and tide pools and nudes and all that stuff for years and years. Until 20 years ago when I found that I could do it in the studio and never have to travel.
I don't need the money I generate from photography to support myself.
I think all photographers fit their vision to their personality.
No matter how fast I could do it with the digital camera I don't think I would get the same thing out of it. The passion I have for formulating an idea stands alone. It is the important essence of what I do.
