Adam Sebastian West is a Brisbane based artist who has turned his creativity and passion into a profession, or two. He is the Founder of Urban Climb, Adam Sebastian West Photography and has been at the helm of creative agencies Breeder and The Story Boxes as Creative Director. And to add a bit of spice to the mix, Adam’s recent foray into the realms of Event Management have seen him create Queensland’s first Rock Climbing Festival – The Passchendaele Bouldering Festivals.
“From an early age I have had a natural flair for most things creative. Becoming an artist wasn’t so much a choice but more so an organic emergence of my creative expressions.Photography has always been the dominant medium for me, although I work with ink illustrations as well. I enjoy the full spectrum of photography from my humble beginnings with film and darkrooms to embracing the full scope of digital imaging.”
Adam’s 30-year creative love affair with the camera has coexisted in his private and professional life with his passion for rock climbing. “I have enjoyed two distinct career paths for the last 30 years… Leaving school, I found myself working in the photographic industry and pursued this for about 4 years until I discovered rock climbing. [sold] all of my photography equipment and spend every last dollar and minute of time on rock climbing.[This] auspiciously saw me land a job as Manager of Brisbane’s first Indoor Climbing Centre.”
“Photography reemerged in my life circa 1999 where after injuring my back in a climbing accident, I decided to go and travel for a couple of years and purchased a whole new photography kit to document my adventures. It was after these travels I put together my first solo exhibition of images captured throughout India.”
“In 2007 the call for the creative captured my heart once again and I founded my first commercial photography business shooting lifestyle, architecture and interiors whilst exploring my love of nature and landscape photography,” Adam described. “Today I continue to be immersed in both worlds of rock climbing and photography and am very much creatively focused on producing limited edition digitally manipulated photographic prints.”
When asked how he would describe his art and himself, Adam simply said “light, insight and respect”. And his art is a true reflection of these words. The words reflect the artist, the man and his philosophy both thematically and descriptively. “What is emerging from me today is the result of many years of being curious about light, nature, and where and how I find myself in these environments. I am a deeply spiritual man with a great love and respect for all things sentient. My style is from the heart, inspired by nature.”
Adam’s art on the Art Lovers Australia website is some of his own personal favourites. The Madre series, and specifically Water Prayer stands out as a one-in-a-million shot for him. “It’s an image that was created with an immense amount of love in my heart in a time where the world outside of that immediate environment seemed to disappear. For me it represents reverence, respect and knowing and points to the ever-present loving essence of Mother Earth.”