He&rsquo;s the zeitgeist-capturing young photographer who quit a nine-to-five to become clubland&rsquo;s most in-demand snapper.

He might not be a household name just yet, but Louis Nesbitt&rsquo;s star is firmly in the ascendant. Plucked from the <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/six-of-the-best-ibiza-new-year-s-happenings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dancefloor</a> in 2019 to shoot an up-and-coming <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/music/hot-ticket-the-unstoppable-rise-of-michael-bibi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Bibi</a>, Nesbitt&rsquo;s swift ascent up clubland&rsquo;s ranks is the storyline that young clubbers dream of. Following a summer season in Ibiza at Bibi's Solid Grooves Motel and fresh from shooting multi-award-winning rapper Skepta, Nesbitt checked in with <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">L&rsquo;OFFICIEL IBIZA</a> to muse over a whirlwind year behind the lens.

The photographer Louis Nesbitt

It seems you&rsquo;ve exploded on the scene and made a huge impact very quickly. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you got into photography?
I'm from Essex originally. I got into photography in my last few weeks at university - four or five years ago now &ndash; by accident. My roommate was the photographer for our social events and one night he got a bit too carried away. He needed someone to take over and I stepped in. I had no idea what I was doing but I really enjoyed the experience and I felt like brought me out of my shell. I realised right away that this was something I wanted to follow up, so I saved up for a year after graduating and bought my first camera. At this point I was taking photos of anything and everything: I even took photos of my friend for his Tinder profile. And then I stumbled into <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/milan-fashion-week-news-and-mens-fashion-shows-autumn-winter-2023-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fashion Week</a> and started shooting street style. I was out one night and a friend said to me, why don't you take photos at clubs? You love house music and we&rsquo;re always out. It made a lot of sense, so I started taking my camera to parties and networking as much as I could.

Jamie Jones in the booth at Amnesia, Ibiza

You&rsquo;re best known for your work with Michael Bibi, particularly at this year&rsquo;s Solid Grooves Motel parties in Ibiza. How did that relationship develop?
It was all a bit random really. Some friends and I went to a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/solidgroovesuk/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solid Grooves</a> party at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/studio338/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Studio 338</a> in London. Michael at that time had just started to blow up and we&rsquo;d all heard about this guy and wanted to go and see what he was all about. I just happened to be stood to the side of the outside stage before Michael came on. It was my birthday and I was dressed up, wrapped in birthday banners and I looked like an absolute idiot. Michael came up behind me going, oi, oi, birthday boy. We got a photo together and had a bit of a laugh. Two weeks later he was playing a small festival called Hifields in Cambridge. We chatted again and I took a great photo of him that I posted on my Instagram Stories. The next day I&rsquo;m sitting there at work in my nine to five and I just get a message off him like, I love that photo! He posted it and tagged me in it and from there the ball just started rolling. That image and Michael&rsquo;s approval of it opened a lot of doors.

You were working as a corporate tax consultant in your previous life. How did that a career end and your new one begin?
It was around New Year's Eve, so almost a year ago now. Someone from Michael&rsquo;s team floated the idea - what do you think about doing the season in <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/categories/ibiza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ibiza</a> next year? It had been in the back of my mind but it was still a real shock to have that vocalised. As summer approached it became clear they definitely wanted me out there. I was thinking, hang on a minute, how am I gonna do every Thursday in Ibiza when I've got a nine-to-five? That&rsquo;s not gonna work. I made a decision then and there to leave my job and go full time as a photographer. I always knew I&rsquo;d have to give it a go, I just didn't know how or when!. As soon as I quit my job, I got a message from Michael saying, when are you coming on tour? Two days after I left my job I was flying off on a private plane. I kept that one quiet but it did make me smile.&nbsp;
Your images have a very raw, unposed quality to them and an intimacy that recalls the iconic club photographs of Dave Swindells from the &lsquo;80s and &lsquo;90s. How has your style developed in this way?
I think the point to make about my work is that it&rsquo;s always been very unstaged. I literally came up from being a clubber on the dancefloor to being the guy with the camera. It&rsquo;s been very organic. My aim has always been to give back to the artists &ndash; to use my photography as a way to repay them for the music. I think that's a really important point: there was never an end goal or a commercial interest. I&rsquo;ve never studied photography: I'm self-taught in everything I do. Whatever success I have has come to me through passion and through being humble. I was just left to my own devices, to figure out my way in this game, and through that I&rsquo;m grateful to have developed relationships with some really great people. My images are raw because they&rsquo;re real. There&rsquo;s no fakery. The reason my photos of Michael look so relaxed and natural is because they are &ndash; that relationship is authentic and it has integrity. You can&rsquo;t force those things.&nbsp;

DC10 by Louis Nesbitt

If you had to pick one moment, what was the highlight of your year?
Pawsa closing the Solid Grooves terrace at DC-10 with Modjo&rsquo;s Lady. What a moment!&nbsp;
Who is your favorite photographer?&nbsp;
My best mate, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/smedleyshots/?hl=en">Joel Smedley</a>. He's a fantastic portrait photographer. 
If you could shoot one person on the planet, who would it be?
Travis Scott. He&rsquo;s an artist whose work I&rsquo;ve always appreciated and it&rsquo;s a different realm to what I currently do

Picture perfect: life behind the lens with photographer Louis Nesbitt

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