The Person Behind the Lens
Wes Side
Paramour Cabaret, Townsville — 2026
01 — The Beginning
Born in Canada, raised behind a lens.
Growing up in Oshawa, Ontario, I was always drawn to the way a single frame could hold an entire feeling. In 2005, I took the leap and opened my first studio in Downtown Oshawa — a small space with big ambitions and an obsession with capturing people exactly as they are, not as they think they should be.
Those early years shaped everything. Working with real people — families, models, couples — taught me that great photography isn't about perfection. It's about presence. It's about the split second before someone realizes they're being watched.
02 — A Different Stage
Australia. The Cabaret. A whole other world.
In 2014, life took a dramatic turn — I moved to Australia and founded The Paramour Cabaret, a theatrical production company that became a full-time creative obsession. Photography took a back seat as I stepped into the spotlight in a completely different way.
The experience was extraordinary. Running a cabaret taught me about storytelling, about drama, about the electric energy between a performer and an audience. Without realising it, I was deepening everything that makes a great photograph — tension, emotion, timing, and narrative.
03 — The Return
Back to Canada. Back to what I love.
Now I'm returning to Canada — and returning to photography with fresh eyes, a deeper understanding of performance and story, and an even greater hunger to create. The years away didn't take me away from photography. They gave me more to bring to it.
I can't wait to reconnect with the people, the moments, and the craft that started it all — and to write the next chapter of this story, one frame at a time.