Lee Kirby

Lee Kirby is a contemporary British photographer whose portrait work is known for using projected imagery and movement to create layered, atmospheric “real‑life double exposures.” His portraits often blur the boundary between photography, painting, and graphic design, especially in music, fashion, and experimental projection projects.

Kirby is a freelance photographer based in London, originally from Norwich, with a background in both photography and art education. He describes his work as covering “a bit of everything,” but with a consistent emphasis on fashion, music, and portrait photography. His portfolio also includes nature, landscape, travel, and advertising commissions, showing an ease in moving between commercial and personal work.

Within contemporary portrait photography, Kirby’s work sits at the intersection of fashion, music imagery, and experimental projection art. His practice reflects a broader trend of treating the portrait as a layered surface—combining body, projected media, and motion—rather than a neutral record of an individual, aligning him with photographers who use in‑camera effects to question the stability of photographic identity.

Common visual traits in Kirby’s portraits include:

  • Strong, high‑contrast lighting that makes projected forms stand out crisply on skin and clothing.​

  • Simplified poses, often with faces turned away or partially obscured, to keep attention on the projected image and overall composition rather than on recognisable expression alone.​

  • A limited, often moody color palette and careful framing, which give even commercial portraits a slightly surreal, editorial feel.​

Lee Kirby’s photographs are distinguished by their experimental use of projection, light, and movement, which merge subjects with dynamic backgrounds and create a sense of layered visual depth. A hallmark of his portrait work is the projection of digital images or colored lights onto the human form, producing images that combine elements of painting, photography, and graphic design within the same frame. Overall, Kirby’s photography is recognized for blending multiple visual layers, employing innovative in-camera techniques, and prioritizing mood, color, and movement over traditional portrait realism.