Kris Kesiak, Glasgow-based photographer, will showcase a collection of unseen portraits of some of Glasgow’s greatest icons at his first solo exhibition ‘People’ next week.

With some of the portraits spanning 20 years, ‘People’ aims to celebrate the humanity in Scotland and the UK’s creative icons.

Featuring shots of Barbara Dickson OBE, Scotland’s biggest selling female singer of all time, River City actress and singer Frances Thorburn and Rosanne Reid, singer/songwriter and eldest daughter of The Proclaimer’s Craig Reid, ‘People’ acts as a snapshot moment of the artists who make up Scotland’s cultural capital.

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“Music is a passion of mine,” says Kris. “I used to want to be a musician, but I didn’t want it bad enough and I wasn’t good enough.

“I really respect musicians and working with them is a better way to channel that passion. It’s a trick thing having a picture taken even if it’s part of your job, so I think that musicians appreciate the fact that I respect the work that they do.

“I’ve become a fan of a lot of the people that I’ve taken a picture of,” Kris says. “There are so many talented and incredible artists that I work with that sometimes I can feel incredibly frustrated, because they should have achieved more success than they should have.”

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Behind the portraits is Kris’s real attempt to capture the essence of humanity behind his subjects.

“Myself and the curator chose images that show an aspect of personality as an idea. Some of the models area laughing, some are more reflective – that’s were you see the real bits of humanity coming in.”

Although the portraits are not exclusively of Scottish celebrities, there is a heavy emphasis on Scotland and particularly on Glaswegians. Kris, originally from Poland, moved to Glasgow over 17 years ago. What characterises his Glasgow models?

“I think it’s a lack of pretence,” says Kris. “There are so many well-known people that live in Glasgow who have normal lives, and nobody bothers them.

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“People don’t have time here for people who aren’t themselves.

“There’s a humour that we can appreciate.”

‘People’ runs from September 17-22 in The Vacant Space Gallery on Argyle Street.