Flint, MI — It’s been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For Adrian Hester, beauty is in the totality of what’s being viewed.
“Everything plays a part in the beauty of an image, not just the person but the things in the image as well,” Hester said.
Hester, also known as “A.D.,” has provided graphic design services for over 20 years through his independent company and has captured stunning images of his hometown and residence of Flint, Mich.
Dispelling the need to solely call himself a graphic designer or photographer, he deems himself a creative visualist, adding his signature style of rich color saturation and razor-sharp quality to his professional and personal work.
How did he get here?
Hester’s interest in photography piqued at the tender age of three when his mother let him play with an old Kodak camera. He toyed with cameras and photography throughout his teenage years, but put that particular passion on the backburner in high school.
It wasn’t until an event in the late 90s that Hester would reunite with his first love.
“Once Buick City closed down, and that piece of history was leaving, that’s when I was like, ‘I want some pictures of that,’” Hester expressed.
In the early-2000s, Hester started to learn the ins and outs of Microsoft Paint and Photoshop. He borrowed books from a friend to learn about graphic design and began creating work that mimicked what he saw in magazines and ads that caught his eye.
By the mid-to-late 2000s, he started to take his craft seriously and offered affordable graphic design services to local clientele looking for eye-catching imagery for club flyers and promotional items. Hester’s keen eye for quality design and use of rich color would often make his work stand out and feel more like art than promo.
“That’s always been my thing — to help you see what the people who love it see,” said Hester, explaining how he approaches his design work.
A product of Generation X, his creativity was inspired by the intense richness of 1970s Blaxploitation art, the eerie ingenuity of Alfred Hitchcock, and the traditional surrealism of Norman Rockwell.
“Rockwell liked to feature people full-bodied, up-and-down,” Hester stated. “Most of his work was in portrait because it draws everything together. Everything was fun and had a warmth to it.”
Hester also grew up a fan of television commercials and advertising as he paid close attention to brands close to home.
“When I was in high school, I figured I would be an art director for GM (General Motors) because, for me, them losing business in the 80s was because their advertisements sucked,” Hester said. “They had a lot of terrible advertising, and I thought I could do something about that.”
Although he didn’t go the GM route, he forged ahead to carve out a career that allowed him to dream in color and create on his terms.
Currently, his work can be found on Instagram, as his page displays images of beauty in places and spaces that are often overlooked or deemed undesirable. From the subtle glow of a liquor store sign to the vibrancy of lit club night, each photo Hester shares is a moment to take in – totally and completely.
“Art, to me, is the beauty of the totality of the entire image,” Hester stated. “It’s like an orchestra, almost. I mean, everything just comes together for the totality of the song.”
Find more of Adrian Hester’s work on Instagram.
