References for Damien J

Keira Lavelle

It’s been a while since I’ve shot with Damien, so it was so wonderful having the opportunity to catch up recently during a flour workshop at Natural Light Spaces studio! :D What a cool theme for us to get creative with once again - as each time we’ve shot, we have done something a little different.

The day was split into two group sessions: Damien was predominantly shooting as a photographer during the first half of the day and then actually stayed on to assist in the afternoon. I personally suspect it was just so he could launch flour at me... But I’m sure he will tell you it was because he wanted to be helpful. :P And he was... My silly jokes aside (which actually reflect the silliness that was had all day) Damien was a star and contributed so creatively when we got our time to make pictures in the morning, and then ran around like a mad one for the rest of the day actually cleaning up all the mess I was making and gathering it up for me. :D It’s been ages since I did a flour shoot - and certainly never to this extent (although not many studios could actually host such mess-making to this scale!) but having an extra pair of hands to aid with the strategic throwing of flour for other photographer delegates, and then be thinking ahead to gather the excess whilst I posed was just ingenious and really helped with the flow/speeding up the process. In the morning when Damien was shooting: I was legging it backwards and forwards constantly to get my next hand-full! So come the afternoon with extra staff on the job - it took a lot of work off my shoulders and enabled me to put the effort into posing for the rotation of photographers instead. :) What a legend!

Now I really have to comment on our one-to-one shooting time because we got some utter stunnah’s in the bag! Damien actually kindly pinged me a few shots at the end of the day through to my phone because in the madness of it all: I forgot to get “back-of-camera” shots! Flippin’ amateur! 😂 Thus it was a buzz to see some of the fruits of our labour in full glory thanks to this gent. It’s funny because I don’t do group events all that often, but when I do: I nearly always go into Speedy-Gonzales autopilot mode to keep the momentum going. That’s something I’ve literally done from day one, and generally found it to be productive when you have a number of rotations to get through/ensuring everyone gets a decent amount of shots. However, Damien had a specific creative eye for what he was looking for and really took the opportunity in our time to give some valuable direction/describe what he was after. We got an FPI for it! Simply stunning; full credit to Damien’s imaginative vision for seizing the moment like he did. And this was the case throughout the various sets we did too! :D I feel we nailed some gorgeous variety utilising the theme well and enabling a rapport to make it happen from idea to execution. Here is a photographer with attention to detail - even in the midst of an event where so much is happening around you he can align his focus to smash the important elements, such as: light on the model, specifics of a pose and even the way the flour erupts. :P

You just need to read a few other references that various models have left for Damien to get an idea of how nice a guy he is. He’s totally down-to-earth and easy to get on with - uber professional too and has completely sound on-shoot etiquette. I’ve always felt very happy working with Damien... Plus we get to chat a lot and create positive vibes for the session to flow. I think on the event we were just having too much fun - especially Damien with that sweeper to collect the flour when I’d made sufficient mess! 🤣

Cracking day - thank you so much for coming along and adding to the awesomeness Damien!

Definitely hope we get to catch up sooner rather than later with all the shenanigans of 2020 so far! But hey - what a pick-me-up to a shoddy year!

Keira

Dom5

Yet another fantastic shoot with Damien at the newly renovated Fareham studio.

This time we focused on fashion and creative shots using projector and different patterns.

I've never done a shoot like this so I was extremely happy when Damien agreed to shoot this concept with me.

Although, I didn't pack a few things that were needed, we twicked the outfits a little bit and it still worked.

I love shooting with Damien as he's reliable and very creative. I'm looking forward to shooting with him again :)

Natasha ПΣӨП

It was a pleasure shooting with Damien after a fair few years!

He is so creative and always has fun and interesting ideas

We got some amazing projector shots and I hope to work with him again!

Highly recommended

Thanks :)

PoppySeed Dancer

Damien and I collaborated on our very first remote photo shoot in May. I was immediately impressed with his vision and the finished photos. He came to shoot in person in August and instead of just 1 or 2 days, we ended up shooting the entire week! I have to say I am so happy for this friendship. Damien has a lot to offer. Looking forward to many more shoots and hopefully trips together!

Neon Dreams Studio

It's always a pleasure to have Damien at the studio! This time shooting the wonderful Lottii. He has great ideas and created amazing photos as always! Always respectful of the model and the space, I look forward to his return :) highly recommended

Dom5

Had my second shoot with Damien yesterday, this time in a newly renovated Fareham studio.

This time, we worked up to implied nude levels. Although I felt quite anxious at first, Damien made me feel relaxed and as the shoot went by, we produced better and better images.

I am really looking forward to seeing edited images and working with Damien again in a near future.

Definitely recommended :)

Irida

Damien was one of the photographer's attending the Natural and Speedlight workshop ran by Modelography.

Damien is so down to earth , so easy to work with and fun ! He has a very good eye for detail and always experimented with different angles ! A very experienced, professional and passionate about photography photographer

Very happy to highly recommend to all .

Modelography

Always great to see Damien along on one of my workshops. As ever he was super helpful, great with our model and just a great guy to have along, as well as being a very skilled photographer in his own right. I would 100% recommend Damien to any model to work with.

Mike

Jade Lyon

I worked with Damien for the first time at Neon Dreams studio. He is clearly a very talented photographer. He is happy to take his time to get the lighting and set up just right and it's certainly worth the effort! He doesn't feel the need to rush through sets and be trigger happy and the results speak for themselves.

Quality over quantity!

Neon Dreams Studio

It was a pleasure to have Damien back at the studio for our first post lockdown event! As always he was respectful of the space, model and rules. I can leave him to do his own thing as he adapts well to his surroundings and always has great ideas. He is a talented photographer and lovely person to have around, I hope to see him again :)

UK MODEL EVENTS

Damien was great to have on our first Underwater Tank Event with models Ayla Rose, Gemma Huh and Millie May. This event was of course different to others because of COVID, he followed all safety guidelines, he was fun to be around and we cannot wait to see what you have created!

We would love to have you on another event!

Thanks again so much for coming and helping us support Homeless House!

UME

www.ukmodelevents.co.uk

Marie Jean Saxton

Damien drove all the way from Newbury to Hinckley to shoot me at Parklands studio! What an honour! I seriously love this guys work, he’s amazing with lighting and his retouching is second to none. I love working with Damien as he’s always looking for something with a bit of an edge.... suits me well as I’m always after that too! I can highly recommend Damien to models of all levels wether they be new to the industry or professional. A fun chilled out photographer with plenty of ideas and an eye for amazing creativity. Thankyou so so much for another wonderful shoot, I can’t believe how fast a year has flown by since our first!

Best wishes

Marie

X

Arabella Black

I would highly recommed working with Damien.

We booked our first shoot, he arrived early and started settng up and planning instantly whilst I finished getting ready. This really helped our time management. We built rapport throughout with no time wasted so we could work to the fullest and create exceptional images which we most certainly did.

We did a home shoot at my place. I challenged Damien's skills as my home has been over shot. He very much so achieved a unique style of images. His compositions, standard of light equipment and how he used it was phenominal.

Communication throughout was on point. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him.

I'm looking forward to seeing the final outcomes as Damien is also exceptional at editing!

Layla Jean.

Had my first shoot with Damien!

Damien is a great guy and a pleasure to work with! We shot at sanctum Southampton!

Damien picked me up from the station & when we got to the destination Damien was all set up to go! He had fantastic ideas and he gave me an idea scenario of the images we was trying to create which helped me a lot!

He was super professional throughout the photoshoot & he was super friendly and helpful!

He even brought along some items for us to use on this photoshoot!

I know we got some awesome shots because Damien is a great photographer and he showed me back of the camera images of what we was creating!

Thank you for a great photoshoot! & hope to see you again in the future!

Totally recommended!

Layla :)

Joanna_fay1

This was my third time working with Damian, this time at Neon Dreams studio.

Damian is always a pleasure to work with, he brings so much ideas and plenty of outfits.

Damian is great to work with, professional, chatty and puts so much effort into getting the shots.

Highly recommend!

Dom5

Had an awesome first shoot with Damien at the Neon Dream studio. Pre- communication was great and we exactly knew what we were aiming for.

Damien is a great and creative photographer who's so easy to work with.

I really love his style of work and was so happy to try shooting gels for the first time.

I am really looking forward to see what we have created.

I would highly recommend him, thank you once again for a great shoot!

Nico Dee

Damien applied to one of my themed castings. Precomms were great and very organised. Damien had some ideas that would go well with the theme, like gels and some creative lighting using a projector.

I found him easy to work with, he is professional but also down ti earth. He allowed me to free pose, but also gave some direction with some great posing ideas.

I recommend working with him and hope to get to work together again

Twinkle Nose (Hannah Aisling)

Damien booked 3 hours onto my sold out studio day at Art Asylum Studio, Weymouth. It was great to finally work with him! We shot a few different themes and the back of camera pictures looked great too :) he had a clear vision of what he wanted to produce, and I hope I helped bring that to life for him :) I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the work we created! :) I would definitely recommend and hope to work with him in the future!

Thanks for coming Damien!

Twinkle x

Thenediel

I had my first shoot with Damien over the weekend after applying to a casting of his. Pre-shoot comms were excellent and made organising the shoot a dream!

He arrived on time and was fully prepared with a range of great quality equipment.

Unfortunately we struggled with some technical issues during the shoot, however he pushed through them and continued working to create some great images together.

I’d definitely work with him again and recommend him to anyone wanting to work with him.

Alice X

Ayla

Worked with Damien loads of time and I absolutely love it.

This time in a studio in Leicester for half a day plus he attended on of my workshops afterwards!

Highly recommended as always!