Hi I’m Damian

My family moved about quite a bit when I was very young and eventually settled in south London.

Having Irish parents, I spent all of my school holidays on a small farm in the north west coast of Ireland. If I wasn’t hand milking the cows or up in the bog collecting turf, there’s a good chance I would have been helping birth the odd calf.

That’s how I remember it, anyway, my granddad and uncle might have seen me more of a hindrance than a help :)

You could describe me in my early years as a city boy with a massive chunk of country in me.

As an adult, I recently discovered I am severely dyslexic, which explains a lot, and it’s no surprise, then, my love for photography and visual arts.

I’ve spent the last 25+ years involved in photography in one way or another. Many of my formative years professionally were spent in more of a background role. Driving for camera hire companies, managing photographic hire studios and assisting on high profile photo shoots for the likes of Vogue, Harpers & Queen, Vanity Fair and Marie Claire. Not to mention the many, many celebrities I’ve worked with. I’ve bumped into Iggy Pop on Miami beach, and once found myself staring back at a crowd of thousands whilst onstage with U2 (as a photographer – not a musician!).

Throughout these formative years I was always trying to hone my own skills as a photographer but it wasn’t until I made the decision to commit to solely taking pictures that I discovered many new aspects of what I really love about making photographs with people.

Up until this point, the focus of the type of work I was involved with was about purely creating an amazing image, something which I still find incredibly stimulating and is still very important to me. However, once I started to photograph people on a more regular basis, I realised there were so many other things to love about photography.

I’ve always been a people person and engaging with complete strangers whilst photographing them really highlighted how important this was for me. Photography gives me a way in, and with a little bit of patience people often really open up during a shoot in a way that we mutually get something really valuable from it, not least the great photos.

On a personal level I find photography can be hugely giving and immensely rewarding. I really love exploring how to get the best out of people.