Resilience and the Power of Portraiture with Wayne Simpson

Rising Laterally

Wayne is a Canadian photographer determined to tell meaningful stories through portraiture, staying true to his subjects as he combines art and compassion together as one. His work has been published in such magazines as Outdoor Photography, Canadian Geographic, and Canadian Rockies Annual.
Wayne’s forthcoming book, “Resilient: The Portraiture of Wayne Simpson” harmonizes photography and storytelling to illuminate the miraculous resilience of the human spirit.
In our conversation with Wayne, we discuss his process as a consummate artist. How do you go from spotting an interesting character on the street to capturing their essence in a portrait that intimately and accurately conveys their life story? How do you get perfect strangers to open up about the darkest hours of their life? How do you learn to see people not for what’s on the surface, but for all the spellbinding depth that’s just below it?
Tune in to learn Wayne’s secrets.
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00:00 Intro
02:04 How it all started for Wayne Simpson
03:05 Wayne’s artistic process
06:40 Residential schools
08:15 Nightmares about losing native history
09:22 Talking about horrible things
10:00 The key to storytelling
11:52 A way to humanize someone
12:05 How this project has been life changing
14:07 How to navigate difficult conversations
16:35 The purpose of this book
17:03 What does “sonder” mean?
18:50 Resilience, Grit, and Character
20:00 The story of a homeless man
26:21 What do we all have in common?
29:37 How to bring your complete self to the world
31:28 What Wayne’s children have learned from watching him create
32:00 How a moment is captured
33:30 Using the environment to enrich the story
35:44 Great open-ended questions to ask someone
36:47 What is Wayne thankful for?
40:31 Everyone will see a reflection of themselves in this book
41:22 Memorable quotes from the book
42:58 Pushing the boundary of artistry forward
43:12 The oldest soul Wayne experienced
46:17 The importance of asking your parents about their stories
49:59 “One final question”
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Buy the book! Resilient: The Portraiture of Wayne Simpson
Wayne Simpson
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