About Les
My first interest in the arts was in the form of 50’s rock and roll when I worked in a coalmine during the day and played guitar in the evening in a band that I’d started. Parallel to that I was beginning to look at paintings in museums and was excited at how artists like Rembrandt saw and used light, but music was the dominating factor in my life. I soon gave up the coal-mining and for several years travelled around the UK playing rock and roll. Eventually, I returned to college as a mature student and took a job in accountancy but carried on playing music until 1976 when I discovered photography, and the obsession began.
I set about learning the skills of making photographs by reading books, attending one or two workshops, and of course exposing lots of film and making prints from the resultant negatives. After several years spent soaking up information I started to teach black and white printing and a few years later I was approached by the publisher of Photo Pro, a UK magazine, to write monthly articles for him. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, the beginnings of a career in photography was under way. Finally, in the early 90’s I gave up my boring accountancy job to concentrate on fine art photography and writing. During the years since I made that decision I have concentrated solely on the art side of photography rather than the commercial market and have never regretted it. I have written articles for numerous photographic magazines and in October 2002 my first book, Creative Black and White Photography was published.
| Published Writing | |
| Photo Pro | Photon |
| Darkroom User | Amateur Photographer |
| Practical Photography | Master Photographer |
| Black and White Photography UK | PhotoVision USA |
| Ag Magazine | Emulsion Magazine |
| Photography Monthly | |
| Corporate Clients | |
| IlfordPhoto | Calumet UK |
| Calumet USA | Fotospeed |
| Permajet | Luminos USA |
| The Getty Museum LA | Harman Technology Limited |
| Masterclasses taught in Colleges | |
| Edinburgh College of Art | Newcastle College |
| Dundee University | Birmingham UCE |
| De Montford University Leicester | Leicester College |
| Derby University | Stafford College of Art |
| Westminster College London | Hull College |
| Salisbury State University Maryland USA | Pasadena College of Art CA USA |
| Glasgow School of Art | Glasgow Metropolitan College |
| North Glasgow College | Edinburgh Stevenson College |
| Edinburgh Telford College | Coventry City College |
| Sandwell College | Sunderland College |
| Exhibitions | |
| 1993 Woodhorn Museum Ashington | 1994 NEC Birmingham |
| 1996 Cologne Germany | 1998 NEC Birmingham |
| 1999 Belfast Exposed Northern Ireland | 2000 Enniskillen Northern Ireland |
| 2003 Hoopers Gallery London | 2004 Hoopers Gallery London |
| 2009 The Waterfront Belfast (with Anne Cassidy) | |
Represented by: |
Contact Les McLean |
| Hoopers Gallery | info@lesmcleanphotography.com |
| 15 Clerkenwell Close | lesmcleanphotographer@hotmail.com |
| London EC1R 0AA | Telephone: 01890 850259 |
| www.hoopersgallery.co.uk |