Wesley Kirk is a man of many talents and endeavors. In addition to being a photographer, he also finds time to manage his own film distribution business, serve as president of the UNT Short Film Club, run a motivational poster campaign and that's just naming a few. Wesley is an extremely motivated young man, and we look forward to what he will bring to our community of artists. We caught up with Wesley to see what he has to say. Here is Wesley Kirk and his binders full of women.

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Wesley Kirk, but a lot of people know my photography by the name The Vision Beautiful. I’m a photographer/filmmaker from Fort Worth, TX. I like dressing sharp, listening to latin jazz & southern soul, watching Star Trek, going on adventures, making a fool of myself, and having long talks about outer space & cartoon shows.

My life in Denton is mostly spent at my computer, working on my businesses. Click Clack Short Films, a short film distribution company, Fail Better Posters, an inspirational / motivational poster company & social project, my photography company, and various other projects, collaborations, and schemes.

What brought you to photography?

I was about 12. My mom accidentally bought two cameras on ebay, and gave me the extra one, a fully-automatic 35mm point & shoot, not much better than a disposable camera. My dad had recently quit his job as an insurance adjuster, and gave me his 99 leftover rolls of film. They were both kind enough to develop whatever awful photos I took.

For my 17th birthday, my mom bought me a digital camera, not a good one, but one that would save them from having to develop all those awful pictures. Around that time, my friends and I started going on adventures around Fort Worth, exploring what we could, and I began to realize that photography was a pretty good way to keep some of my filmmaking skills sharp between movies.

Over the years, I ended up going on photoshoots more than film shoots, and people started knowing me more for my portraits than my short films. After a while, I finally started taking it seriously, getting myself a proper camera, fancy lenses, good equipment, and started perfecting my style.

Describe your style.

I'd describe my style as semi-candid cinematic portraits, where shoots tend to double as adventures.

What inspires you? 

It’s hard to put a finger on what inspires me. I suppose the best I could answer is a good idea well executed. But what excites me most for a shoot is just a pretty lady, a fun idea we both came up with, golden light, and a place to roam around.

How do you define a successful photograph?

Personally, I feel like a shoot was a success if I can't stop looking at the pictures. When I've captured that rare moment of reality looking as beautiful as it did in my mind's eye. It doesn't happen often, but every now and then, I'll do a shoot I'm so in love with that I'll keep pulling up the pictures again & again, and it'll remind me of when I was a kid and I'd spread out all my photos on my bedroom floor and think to myself "I made these."

What are the benefits and challenges of being a photographer in Denton?

The benefit is having lots of beautiful, talented, enthusiastic people around. There’s no shortage of gorgeous gals, brilliant artists, and fun people to collaborate with.

The challenge is finding good, new places to photograph. In Fort Worth, I had a variety of diverse locations, but Denton’s so small, it leaves me with few options to explore.

If you could be invisible for one day with your camera, where would you go?

I would time travel back to January 4th, 2010, Lesley Kerr’s last day in Texas, and I would photograph the way she looked at me, and the way we were together, our conversations and adventures. I wish I could remember it all better.