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About Me

Hi, I'm Dan.

I do photography for fun, and like to experiment with a wide range themes, with an overall style that is developing and evolving as I go. One of my original goals was to produce raw, expressive images with tons of atmosphere. I'm building on that with a love for the film aesthetic and creating concepts behind shoots.

I'm working towards telling stories with my photos, but I enjoy being in the moment on shoots, and allowing them to go in their own direction on the day, so the story never quite goes to plan.

A few things remain pretty consistent across all my shoots:

SUBTLE SURREALISM

I aim to create images that feel like they could be from a not-too-distant alternate reality, so I tend to avoid obvious brand names, distinct fashion styles, famous landmarks etc.

GRAINY, HAZY STYLE

I've never been the type to worry about crisp, pixel-perfect photos, and I often now actively edit my images to enhance the blurry and grainy effect.

CASUAL & NATURAL FEEL

I don't have any interest in shooting glamour or anything designed to be sexy - I prefer everything from the posing to the clothing to the lighting to feel more casual and natural, like you're not trying to impress anyone, just existing.

Current Ideas & Themes

I like to work within some fairly broad themes, and then either just experiment with that vague idea, or build a concept within it for each shoot. Here are some current interests and long-time faves:

RENAISSANCE VIBES | view moodboard

I'm really keen to experiment more with renaissance lighting, be that in traditional renaissance style nude portraits, hazy fashion editorials or magical forest shoots. It's new to me, but I'm keen to learn.

CREATIVE EXPERIMENTATION | view moodboard

I like to mess with light distortion in-camera, artificial lighting, reflections and shooting through stuff to create weird effects, weird poses and perspectives, and generally just experimenting. If you're up for a shoot with no real goal in mind besides trying new and creative techniques, I would love to hear from you!

HOME SHOOTS | view moodboard

I love working in new home locations, finding interesting features and creating atmospheric images. A lot of my portfolio is in this style, and I'm very comfortable in my ability to produce this kind of work now in any size/style home.

RETRO DYSTOPIA | view moodboard

I've always had an interest in exploring dystopian concepts in my photos, and love the retro-futuristic aesthetic. 

REMOTE SHOOTS

I'm still keen to explore the medium of remote shoots and currently trying to build up a few concepts that work well with the limitations of working long distance. If you're miles away but like my work, we can still work on something creative together.

TFP Work

Most of my shoots are TFP. I edit quickly, because I'm impatient to see the photos, and generally send 20+ edited images, but that does depend on the style of the shoot.

Lighting

Daylight ✓
Portable Studio Lighting Kit ✓
Anything else that lights up ✓

I'm happier using daylight and a floor lamp than my studio kit, but I do have the lighting options available should they be required for a shoot. I always bring studio lights as a back up for indoor shoots in case the other lighting isn't working.

Locations

I'm happiest working with indoor locations, but I seem to be venturing outdoors a lot more recently. I'm not the most comfortable shooting in studios, but may want to test it out again in the future.

Film Cameras

Recently, I've started shooting with film on a few different cameras. I've got a good Olympus SLR, some much older folding/box cameras, a stereoscopic 3D camera, and a trusty Polaroid instant camera. All available as props or to shoot with. I won't be doing any film-only shoots for a while as I'm still much less confident with film than digital, and wouldn't want to disappoint, so will mostly be bringing then along to other shoots to play with.

Travel

Kent ✓
Central London ✓

Get in touch if you're further afield and we'll see if we can arrange something.

Albums

Experiments

Old Stuff

SHOOT: RoxieH

Computerhead

Remote Shoots

Home Shoots

SHOOT: Aurora

SHOOT: Leah

Castings