References for samthedog

Aria Wild

I shot with John for the first time today. It was an absolute honour to meet John; he is professional, friendly, warm and welcoming. He shared some fascination stories of his travels and I really felt as ease.

John gave me some great feedback after shooting about my posing which is very helpful and of course nice to receive.

Thank you for a great shoot day John! I look forward to working with you again!

Yoo Yoo

I finally shoot with John at end of October after a long time wait . Definitely worth it . John is perfect at artist photo and lighting. I really looking forward to seeing the photos ! Hope can work again . Highly recommended

Miss C Class

I shot with John for the first time today

And after seeing his beautiful work he creates I couldn't have been more happier to have been able to create some more beautiful images with him.

All pre comms were just lovely! And upon meeting John what a lovely genuine man ...absolutely loved my day spent shooting with him at F8 Studios

John thankyou so much for your time I'm sure the images will be beautiful ❤

Gypsylust13

Great shoot , happy chatty and most importantly fun, see you soon 😊

G

J9 Studios

Had the pleasure of welcoming John and model Paloma to the studio today. It was our first time meeting, although thankfully John had been to the studio in a previous life, and so had no issues getting here.

It was all a bit last minute, but John was happy to answer all my questions prior to the shoot. As for the shoot itself, everyone showed up on time, and after a brief tour of the studio, I was more than happy to leave John and Paloma to crack on with their shoot. The studio was left how they found it, which is always appreciated.

I look forward to welcoming them both back in the future.

Yoo Yoo

I met John on our shoot day . We arranged it a month ago . But my train delayed so it didn’t arrive on time . What very frustrated is the owner of the studio didn’t show up . We waited for an hour but still no one come to the studio . So we both get back home with disappointment. I hope this things won’t happen again ! Cause the owner didn’t show up that means we waste both of our time and energy.

Tink Kaos

I recently had an amazing shoot with John, at F/8 studio in Gloucester - we last shot years ago, at the beginning of my modelling adventures, so it was an absolute pleasure to catch up after so long!

We began with some moody art nudes and chairs, created some cool bondage shibari style shots, some animalistic expressions, and ended up doing my best mermaid impression under some garden netting. Such a brilliant shoot!

John is a very relaxed soul, chatty, awesome company, artistic and down to earth - would highly recommend him to all models! Thank you again.

Tink

Monika Lara Smith

I had my first shoot with John when I was hosting a model studio day at f/8 Studio and hopefully we will be able to work together again in the future. :)

John was an absolute pleasure to work with and I am so glad we managed to work together as I adore John's style & ideas!

We had a little chat online just before I came to the studio and John came across as incredibly kind, polite and friendly!! He seemed so sweet and I knew that we would work together so well!

Our shoot was wonderful! John was so easy-going, cheerful, friendly and amazing to talk to! He's a real gentleman and although we shot mainly erotic style, I felt so comfortable around him as if we shot together before :)

The results we achieved were outstanding & unique! John is a very talented photographer with his distinctive style & his ability to operate the lighting so well!

Thank you so much John and can't wait to work with you again! :)

Rebecca Tun

Had another lovely shoot with John recently. It had been a while, so we had some catching up to do. We chatted a lot and worked at a relaxed pace. As always, John was respectful and considerate and we had some interesting conversations. John kindly gave me a book of his work, in which I'm included. Thanks for booking me John, and I look forward to the next one.

Evie Kedavra

What a fantastic remote shoot!

The shoot was a complete pleasure and the time flew by. Pre-comms were spot on.

I would hesitate to recommend to any remote models and hope that we get to shoot in-person once things calm down a little.

Thank you again for a productive and fab shoot.

Highly recommended

Kitty Quinzell

This was my second shoot with John, as part of my studio day at F/8.

Even after a 3 year gap, it very much felt like I was greeting a friend.

We shot a variety of sets and I know we have some real treasures among our images.

Raven 2021

Loved my experience working with John. Great environment and we got on very well. Enjoyed the whole shoot, was well layed out and was great with directions. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Elle J

I recently had a lovely remote shoot with John. He contacted me a little while ago to arrange a shoot and I was really looking forward to working with him.

Pre comms were clear, easy to understand and made it really easy for me to plan sets for our shoot together. He was friendly, chatty and really great to work with. We got some really lovely shots and I look forward to seeing the edits. I really enjoyed working together and I hope we get the chance to work either remotely or face to face together again soon. Highly recommended from me, thanks John!

KatyB (Katex)

I just adore working with John, weve built a lovely working/creative relationship and this means we know eachothers styles and cant wait to have a natter and a catch up whilst creating beautiful erotic art.

Ive always been a fan of Johns photography and its so great to get to be a part of it and deliver images he and i are both proud of. John booked me for a remote shoot down in my cellar, it was one of my first paid and im not too tech savvy so i was quite nervous beforehand in case something didnt go my way/a problem arose. I couldnt think of a better person to do one of my first with, he was patient, helpful with how to position the camera and was super chilled out - which helped me calm down and enjoy it.

I really wanted to be able to set up something that really fitted with Johns style, and i think together we did a damn good job! He was patient with a small delay in sending over the images - and edited them wonderfully.

The shoot flew by and we were both very happy with the result. I cant thank you enough! You made it a really great experience and something to be proud of.

Cant wait until the next time we work together - remotely or in human form!

Highly recommended,

Katyb

Keira Lavelle

Working with John never ceases to be a truly enjoyable experience - we go so far back, yet I can still remember that first shoot we had in that little Yorkshire-based studio when John came up here!

Well John returned to Yorkshire for old times sake - this time remotely! :D I was really excited to have John’s interest in shooting this way because: after many tweaks/trials and research hours... I’d reached a stage where I realised I could offer an almost like for like (in terms of quality) experience to photographers all over the place which would give people like John (based a fair distance from me) the chance to shoot me at home! In the photographic sense that is. :P And we’ve never actually worked at my home - it was a no brainier really - and turned out to be thoroughly productive too. :) Tonnes of pretty images and an FPI later - well I’d jump at the chance to shoot remotely with John again. And of course in person when we can!

Communications were all above-board and splendidly clear (and quick too) which has always been the case with John. We had the date settled in no time, a plan arranged in how we would execute the on-shoot live comms and so forth - easy as pie! So the rest was basically looking forward to that sublime rapport that we normally have, and utilising my space in as many ways as we could. :) John has always made gorgeous work with natural light by itself - we explored this again on a number of the sets creating absolutely magical nudes where light and shadow just worked magic. We had a day when the sun was being a bit mischievous actually - changing subtly, and then suddenly blasting out the rays! John took it all in his stride and continued to bounce with the in-software settings and giving me feedback when he saw something he particularly liked. That’s one thing about working with John too - he lives the models to express themselves in their own repertoire, but he knows what looks good and is able to direct accordingly to get, be it; the right pose and/or dusting of light on the models body. Yup - this gentleman knows his style and knows his photography. :)

From the landing to the bedroom, to the stairs and the lounge... Each set gave a different vibe and character to the artistic and sensual nude styles that John shoots. The time really did fly by quick - though we didn’t miss out on doing our usual amount of chit-chat about everything you can possibly think of. :P It was just a terrific afternoon, and wonderful to speak to John (albeit virtually!) He’s a tremendously passionate creative who puts his heart and soul into his work (and this is the vibe you get when working with him!) But he’s also a sweet person and very considerate of the models he books. I feel delighted and very fortunate to have got the chance to build a lovely working relationship with John over the years and seen our work together flourish with different ideas.

Another definite recommendation from me! :)

Thank you so much John! It was a pleasure as usual.

Keira

Keira Lavelle

Working with John never ceases to be a truly enjoyable experience - we go so far back, yet I can still remember that first shoot we had in that little Yorkshire-based studio when John came up here!

Well John returned to Yorkshire for old times sake - this time remotely! :D I was really excited to have John’s interest in shooting this way because: after many tweaks/trials and research hours... I’d reached a stage where I realised I could offer an almost like for like (in terms of quality) experience to photographers all over the place which would give people like John (based a fair distance from me) the chance to shoot me at home! In the photographic sense that is. :P And we’ve never actually worked at my home - it was a no brainier really - and turned out to be thoroughly productive too. :) Tonnes of pretty images and an FPI later - well I’d jump at the chance to shoot remotely with John again. And of course in person when we can!

Communications were all above-board and splendidly clear (and quick too) which has always been the case with John. We had the date settled in no time, a plan arranged in how we would execute the on-shoot live comms and so forth - easy as pie! So the rest was basically looking forward to that sublime rapport that we normally have, and utilising my space in as many ways as we could. :) John has always made gorgeous work with natural light by itself - we explored this again on a number of the sets creating absolutely magical nudes where light and shadow just worked magic. We had a day when the sun was being a bit mischievous actually - changing subtly, and then suddenly blasting out the rays! John took it all in his stride and continued to bounce with the in-software settings and giving me feedback when he saw something he particularly liked. That’s one thing about working with John too - he lives the models to express themselves in their own repertoire, but he knows what looks good and is able to direct accordingly to get, be it; the right pose and/or dusting of light on the models body. Yup - this gentleman knows his style and knows his photography. :)

From the landing to the bedroom, to the stairs and the lounge... Each set gave a different vibe and character to the artistic and sensual nude styles that John shoots. The time really did fly by quick - though we didn’t miss out on doing our usual amount of chit-chat about everything you can possibly think of. :P It was just a terrific afternoon, and wonderful to speak to John (albeit virtually!) He’s a tremendously passionate creative who puts his heart and soul into his work (and this is the vibe you get when working with him!) But he’s also a sweet person and very considerate of the models he books. I feel delighted and very fortunate to have got the chance to build a lovely working relationship with John over the years and seen our work together flourish with different ideas.

Another definite recommendation from me! :)

Thank you so much John! It was a pleasure as usual.

Keira

Keira Lavelle

I have worked with John a great number of times now at different venues and with different ideas thrown into a very creative mix. :D John loves photography, and he has a very strong passion for what you can do with light on the human form so chatting to him over the years about the classic nude, general light geek stuff and a while lot of other random things has always been a pure delight. :) Shooting with him even more so because we still chat no end haha, but then we actually get to create said stunning images at the same time! Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!

Our latest encounter was at f/8 studio in Gloucester when I embarked on my latest tour of the South West. I was so happy that John was game for shooting as we go waaaayyyy back and have had many an enjoyable time working together, but then we may go absolutely ages without chatting due to mad schedules etc! 😭 But then again, when our paths do eventually cross again; we don’t shut up as a result :P and feel on such a roll there are just no words! The productivity really was as wonderful as it has always been: we made full use of the lovely natural light at the studio combined with Johns perfect know-how to balance controlled lighting to get the effect he wants which is so signature in his work. Sublime nudes with the light kissing the form - images actually packed with emotion and power in their own right! And of course Johns black and white conversion when he works on the images after really adds the final raw factor. It’s a style I could look at all day long! :)

We rocked the place at f/8... Getting into the vibe with props, walls, floors - you see the nice thing about working with John is that he can shoot the most simplistic of a concept and just make it look superb; but then throw a prop in (like a bit of furniture for example) and it adds a different dimension to the images but doesn’t distract from the artistic quality. And John has a true rock and roll eye for seeing opportunities with angles to make the image more interesting still. Now whilst John knows what he is looking for in an image; he fully values what the model brings to the table in their independent flow of posing and expressing their body/getting into the moment. It’s kinda like just dancing when Johns shooting you - it’s lovely and you can really exert yourself. :D

A true gentleman, a wonderfully natured human, a social legend and just a really awesome chap to get the chance to work with. :) He is understanding and approaches with a professional outlook - yet you can have a blast and a ball (and many cups of tea at the same time haha!)

Do I recommend - yes I do!!!!

Thank you so much John, until next time?

Keira

🩷 Lexie Doll 🩷

I had really been looking forward to working with John!! And the shoot did not disappoint - John is a thoughtful passionate and has a good eye for light, poses and the human body

I was comfortable in his company and this made us able to create fantastic images

He had excellent precomms and was professional throughout - a model release was provided too

I look forward to working with him again!

xKes

Had an amazing first shoot with John!

We had a bit of a late start due to no fault of our own but it gave us the chance to break the ice before the shoot which i think went really well!

Felt completely at ease throughout the shoot and the good vibes just flowed!

john has a great personality and great ideas - Back of the camera images were great! So looking forward to seeing the edits now!

Really hope to work with john again in the future and most definitely recommended!!

kesx x

denisastrakovaofficial

Serious and very talented photographer. John was really great to work with. Recommended from my side! I wish you all the best and hope that we will meet once again for the photoshoot. DS | www.denisastrakova.com