ABOUT WES
Like a lot of photographers, Wes' love for photography began at an early age (that's his first camera, a Kodak Disc, in the goofy selfie above). Fascinated by the beautiful images in National Geographic, historic war photos in countless coffee table books, celebrity portraits in Rolling Stone, slick supercars in Car & Driver, and cool portraits during the height of the sports card boom of the 90's, he was inspired to learn about photography and how the images were made.
Wes officially began his photography career in 1997 working at the University of Tennessee's student run newspaper, the Daily Beacon, as a photographer and photo editor. Two days after graduating with a degree in Anthropology, he started at the Daily Times, a small daily newspaper located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Maryville, Tennessee.
Wes won too many Associated Press awards to remember during his 9 year term at the newspaper covering a wide range of assignments like spots news, sporting events, politicians, local businesses, etc. During that time, he assisted photographers visiting east Tennessee on assignments and soaked up as much knowledge as much as he could while they did work for National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today. In 2000, Wes started a photography business focusing on freelancing, weddings, and portraits.
As the business grew, he made the decision to leave newspapers and focus on self employment. His clients included local universities, hospitals, governments, creative agencies, and a multitude of local businesses. At the peak, Hope Photography was photographing 20 weddings a year and doing dozens of portrait sessions for families all around the Southeast. Wes' photography career went on hiatus for a while so he could focus on a stable income after the rocky economy of 2008-2010. Having two young daughters to feed will make a man defer his dreams sometimes.
He's spent the last 10 years managing multi-million dollar retail businesses and has found he has a knack for it. Photography has always been his passion though and he never quite hung up his cameras, still photographing landscapes, wildlife, and travel photos over the last decade. His goal is to make his dream of being a full time photographer a reality again, so in early 2023 he started spreading the word to former colleagues and friends and was lucky enough to land freelance assignments from clients like Dollywood, the University of Tennessee, and Ole Smoky Distillery.
Need Wes' talents to help you tell your story? Fill out the contact form and drop him a line.
PS: He does a little voice over acting as well, so check out his demos and reels on that tab and spread the word if you know someone who needs a voice for their project!