About

Russell Kleyn is a photographer based in Wellington, New Zealand and is available for commissions throughout the Pacific Region and Worldwide.

He is originally from Cape Town, South Africa where he studied Graphic Design at the University of Stellenbosch. He gained vast photographic experience while living in London where he completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Photography at Central Saint Martins College of Art in 2006.

His portrait of architect Sir Peter Cook (2007) is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London and portraits of artist Irene Ferguson(2007) and political activist Nandor Tanczos (2007) in the collection of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington. Russell was shortlisted for the 2011 Bar Tur award.

Russell freely embraces a broad range of subjects, united by a strong impressionistic eye and a weighty psychology in his use of lighting. His current exhibition work examines human relationships and their underlying facets and toys with recognized psychological stages of relationships. Often working in sequences, portraiture is handled as a tool to explore the inner self.