Damien Lovegrove - Lighting Genius
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to twice have the opportunity to work with one of the finest (in my opinion) Portrait and Social Photographers in the UK (and perhaps the world). Damien Lovegrove is a master of lighting, having a background in Film and TV lighting, Damien has probably forgotten more about lighting than I’ll learn in my time as a photographer. His style of picture is often high key and very artistic, he’s quite comfortable with throwing the rule book out of the window in pursuit of a great image. All of the portrait photographers that bemoan high-key images should spend a day or two in the company of Damien, and realise that an image doesn’t have to be heavy, moody, and serious to make a good portrait, light, bright and airy can bring the most fabulous feeling too. I worked with Damien once on an Annabel Williams course, where we worked with daylight, and once with Damien on his Photoshop course, where again, Damien’s grasp of working with images (as one might have in a darkroom with silver halide) in a non-destructive way, in order to enhance rather than manipulate is fantastic.
But perhaps the one course I’m missing which I suspect would potentially carry more benefit than probably any other is his location lighting course. I suspect this is where Damien’s true love of his art would shine.
He’s released two tutorial DVD’s, one on using natural light and another on using flash, it was discovering these that prompted me to write this and pay homage to the man. I’ve not seen them yet, but I do plan on buying the pair and hopefully in the near future have the opportunity to work with him again on one of his courses.
If you’re looking to learn the business of Contemporary Wedding, Portrait or Social Photography, I personally believe that working with Damien is possibly one of the best places you could spend your money. Many have asked me if Annabel William’s classes are worthwhile, I would say unreservedly yes, they are fantastic, but….. if I only had enough for one class, I would probably look to see what courses Damien had running first, not to take anything away from Annabel, but is simply a testament to how I rate Damien.
I’d love to hear from anyone else reading this that’s worked with Damien or plans to in the future!!
