Photography News Issue 38

Photography News | Issue 38 | absolutephoto.com

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Technique

Landscape portraits Figure it out

Ever been in a great location, but felt that it lacked something, almost like an empty stage set waiting for an actor? Here, PN speaks to acclaimed photographer Damien Lovegrove about how the figure- in-the-landscape style combines two of his biggest loves: the great outdoors and people

Interview by Kingsley Singleton

This month we’re bringing you images from acclaimed photographer Damien Lovegrove’s new book, Portraits . These images are taken from one of the many lavishly-illustrated chapters, and focus on shooting a style called figure-in-the-landscape, but the book covers a huge range of portrait-related styles (more info at the end). Tokickoff, althoughtomanyphotographers Damien needs no introduction, here’s a little biography. Damien’s career, which now spans over 30 years, has been steeped in image making from his first job as a at the BBC as a cameraman. After that he became a lighting

director, then got a job shooting news. After building up his experience at Auntie, Damien became a commercial stills and wedding photographer and it was the latter which gave himwhat he calls his “big break in life”. “Gathering all my years of wedding shooting I wrote the book The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography , before moving on to shoot mainly portraits,” he says. “I then became a teacher and trained the next generation of wedding and portrait photographers, spending many years writing for magazines and running workshops for photographers wanting to learn about

lighting and composition.” Initially, Damien’s client base for workshops were professional photographers, but now he prefers teaching enthusiastic hobbyists and part-time shooters who aren’t “driven by the need to earn money, but the desire for creative imagery. Photographing people has been at the heart of my long and varied career, so the progression to shooting portraits was inevitable.” How would you say your figure-in-the- landscape work differs from regular portraits? For example, is there some interaction or special composition

Damien’s career has been steeped in image making

Above “This secluded canyon was difficult to find but a gem to shoot at. We had about an hour of afternoon light.”

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