LampLighter Magazine Makes Yours Truly Their Cover Story

Damion Photo, James Damion, Music

When I was originally contacted to be interviewed for the premier issue of Lamplighter Magazine I was more than pleased to be involved. I had known Patrick and Nadia (the magazines Editor in Chief and Director of Social Media) for a few months and respected their hard work in what they were attempting and had already achieved. Despite all my blogging and internet shenanigans I have a great deal of fondness for print media. The interview was very professionally done and I was really impressed with the questions their writer Laety Maireville asked. I was however freaked out a bit when Patrick told me that the interview, along with my seldom photographed self was going to be the cover story.

Throughout my history as a writer and photographer I’ve interviewed countless bands and artists. Yet it’s very seldom when the tables are turned and the focus on my life or work is the topic of interest. Being behind the scenes is something I find comfort in. As the cover of the magazine shows, I’ve always been uncomfortable in front of the camera. Always feeling that work and art should be my calling card. Getting my work out there, being able to share and expand my audience is important to me. I’ve felt comfortable and confident in my work for a while now and getting a little credit for it is a really special feeling. I’m humbled and grateful to be a part of Lamplighter and hope to be a consistent contributor to the magazine in the future. For now, I’m going to bask in the glory of my own five minutes of fame.

Extra special thanks to bruno bruyes of New York Newsday for taking time from his very busy schedule to photograph me.

Introducing Myself to an Old Friend.

Beauty, Friendship

Ruth and I have been cyber friends for years. We originally bonded during the My Space’s salad days in a Photography Chat Room. We both loved art and often talked about organizing a photography exhibition at some point. Since then we’ve kept in touch sporadically but never made the leap towards a face to face collaboration. That is until a few weeks ago. We started chatting again on Facebook and she mistakenly said, “We’ve been friends for such a long time.” I quickly jumped on the opportunity and returned with “No, we haven’t. But once we actually get together, we will be. I invited her to the studio and lucky for me, she said “Yes”. The day of meeting she brought her childhood friend and business partner Mayra and although it was short. We managed to have a great time cementing our long standing friendship.

Ruth and Mayra are both beautiful women in the traditional sense. There was a certain class and dignity about them that really impressed me. But it was Ruth that completely won my heart with her smile and youthful exuberance. For someone who is damn near close to my age. (Late 30’s)  She looks like someone you’d pass on the Freshman campus of your local Ivy League school. I honestly wish I had more time that day to get to shoot and talk about art and life in general but within a short time they were out the door and off to a meeting. Ruth and Mayra have embarked on a new business adventure. One can only hope it turns out to be as successful and rewarding as their friendship. Time will only tell.

Where the Day Takes You

Beauty

The warm weather is the perfect tonic to awaken the adventurist inside me. It harkens me to start the day early and end it late. The longer days motivate me to turn that “To Do” list into a “Got it Did”. Though the Spring has yet to  show itself in all it’s blazing glory. It has already inspired me to embrace every day like a new adventure. Though most people have their traditional “New Years Resolutions”, mine always come in the Spring. To revisit favorite places and find new adventures. I’m really looking forward to the season and the creative energy that “springing ahead” brings me year in and year out. This is my favorite time of the year and I hope to take advantage of every opportunity. To live in the moment and fully embrace the fact that it is the little things in life that bring me the most joy. I hope you meet you on the way.

Where Are you Going? Where Have you Been?

Uncategorized

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but i can assure you it is not out of laziness, a lack of interest or a shortage of blog inspiring imagery. With March looking more and more like May my search for a new roost to call home has intensified. Most of my weekends have been spent researching and rediscovering different neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I’ve been to over a dozen open houses in areas like Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and most recently Greenpoint. I’ve seen some of the most bizarre layouts and exaggerations of square footage known to man. Contracting work that turn Bob Villa’s tool belt into cover of “Guns N’ Ammo”. (Does that even make sense?) Regardless, it has been a physically and emotionally draining experience. Of all the places I’ve visited the one that surprisingly won my heart was Red Hook. A sleepy area off beaten path it offers a laid back vibe with cafes, galleries and a fairly new Fairway supermarket right on the water. All of this amongst old factories, warehouses and one of the most catastrophic housing projects known to the US of A. Zoning laws make it very hard for condos to start sprouting up like wildfire and the ones we saw were laughable to say the very least. Regardless, I love the area and hope beyond reason that something will magically pop up somewhere liveable. So bare with me. I’ll be back with plenty more photos, stories and geekness. Till then, may the force be with you. JD

Back in Black

Beauty, Finding your Zen, Portraiture

Last week I did the kind of shoot that has become too few and far between for my liking. The truth is, with all the shooting I’ve been doing lately, not nearly enough moves me as much as that intimate one on one studio session. Recently I forced myself to sit down and write a list of all the things that make me happy and make me feel fulfilled in life. Things like family, friends and bulldogs were pretty high on the list. (Yeah, Bull Dogs) When it comes to things of the creative nature, I’d have to say studio photography is number one, two and three on my list. There is nothing that makes me more alive or feel as if I am at my very best. With all my faults, shortcomings and anxieties, when I am shooting I am at my very, very best.

This particular shoot was to test a new muslin I had picked up the week before at Calumet Photo. If you’re a follower of the blog you might know that I often find myself switching from seemless to muslin backgrounds with varied results. Though I had grown used to using seemless almost exclusively over the last year. (Black in particular) I wanted to look into working with the muslin. So with new studio gear in tow and no one to shoot I contacted a girl who I had worked with in a duo shoot the year before. Lucky for me she had some spare time and was ready to return for here solo.

When originally shooting with Jenn a little under a year ago I was able to steal away a few solo shots when the other girl was changing and managed to get some of my absolute favorite shots of the day. As beautiful as they were I knew they were only a very small sampling of what we could accomplish.

Jenn has three of the attributes I look most for in a model. Expressive eyes, lips and an awesome sense of humor. I was a little nervous about working with her again prior to that day due to the fact it had been such a long lapse in time since we last shot. However her sense of humor and nerdy qualities (That’s a compliment kids.)  had us both cracking up from the get go. She even took the shoot to another level when she asked to revisit some shots she had seen of mine. The shoot instilled with me the fact that when I am a very, very lucky man. Thanks to Jenn for helping me to realize it.

Cool Shirt Bro.

Beauty, Finding Solutions, Finding your Zen, Humor, Organizing, Philosophy, Portraiture

Being that I do a lot of writing and photographing of local music I’ve managed to pick up my share of rock tees along the way. Some are bought, some are given as thanks, some just thrown at me to cover my naked body at shows. Whatever the reason, I’ve got a lot of them. As cool as these things might look on the bands merch table or when worn by Joe Hardcore. They do not exactly look flattering on my body. So instead of letting them go to waste in my drawer or in a box on a shelf somewhere. I’ll throw one on a beautiful girl. In doing this I get a fond memory of the shirt and I don’t end up on an episode of “Hoarders”.   The shirts always look a hell of a lot better on them and it’s a great way to preserve the memory of the shirt. So if you’re attached to all those old rock tees, Christmas trees, and unfitting wanna bees. Throw it on a beautiful woman and keep those memories fresh.

Concert Lighting, Flash and Lenses.

Canon lenses and equipment, Finding Solutions, Fisheye Lenses
Canon 50mm 1.4 (w/o flash)

Though I would love to shoot all my concert photos without the distraction of flash the lens I normally use (Canon 15mm Wide USM) simply does not give me the speed I need to get the sharpness a lot of my work requires. A couple of years back I did a little research and found that Canons 50mm 1.4 had the speed I needed to get the job done. However, the fact that the bulk of my concert shots are taken in small to medium venues made for a lot of really tight shots. In bars and taverns such as Maxwells those tight crops were more like head shots.

Canon 50mm 1.4 (w/o flash)

So over the past weeks I did my share of tests with both the Canon 50mm 1.4 and the Canon 15mm Wide Angle USM. Shooting on Manual Mode and changing the settings  to adjust to the light I was able to produce some interesting results. While using the wide angle approach I was able to get right in the eye of the storm and get some interesting and artistic results. Though most were blurred and disposable,  I did find some keepers amongst the ruins. The next night I played around with the 50mm 1.4 and though I was able to get crisp image after crisp image, the distance from which I shot made me feel more like a bystander. There was really no comparing as far as I was concerned.  Although shooting without flash adds a sense of intimacy and storytelling to my images. I felt the wide angle clearly gave me a the exaggerated vibe I want in my work. It gave me a sense that I was right in the middle of the action as opposed to the bystander element that the former produced. I’d love to hear from other concert photographers about their experiences and approach. I’m always looking to experiment and try different things as I move towards creating my own style. I look forward to the challenge.

Canon 15mm wide angle (w/o flash)

Creating a Comfort Zone.

Finding your Zen, Organizing

I’m often complaining that my apartment is too cluttered and there are too many things that are out of place or have never had one to begin with. Over the years I’ve often purged using the old TLC show Clean Sweep’s mantra of “Keep, Sell, Trash.”  However, as I’ve learned, no matter how much I get rid of. I basically have the same size apartment. Being that I do so much work from home it makes the apartment feel even smaller. A living room that doubles as my photography studio and a second bedroom that doubles as an office. It’s a juggling act to say the least. If things are out in the open or out of place it creates chaos. Having to deal with that chaos means I get less work done while spending more time doing it.

So today I got up at the crack of dawn and started erecting my own little “Man Cave”.  Moving furniture from one room to another while taking random frames off the floor and giving them the walls they have been missing for months. With a little hammering and finagling I created a wall Martha Stewart would be proud of. I cleared my desk to the point I could actually see the surface and created a little nook where everything was within reach. In the end, the only thing missing was a heaping cup of coffee just left of the keyboard. Though I’ll surely be tweaking it with different pictures and such, it is my little peace of mind that takes away some of the stress I feel when I’m sitting here doing what I do. Like the wise man said “Surround yourself with the things you love.” Soon we’ll be moving to a new place. I have visions of a room all my own with nothing but records, photography and all things geeky. A Geek can dream. Right?

Plug One, Plug Two

Canon lenses and equipment, Fisheye Lenses, Maxwells, Music

Considering how much concert photography has dominated my life as of late. I thought I’d take a moment to post some recent images I shot at what has become my home away from homes, Maxwell’s. While I’m here I might as well plug the blog and website I’ve been spending so much free and not so free time working on.

In the last year or so I’ve seen a lot of evolution in regards to my concert photography. Part of that can be traced to my purchase of the Canon 15mm wide angle lens. The shots I’ve taken with it have been my best by far. Though it requires me to get a lot closer and in the grill of some of the musicians it has helped to really feel the music on an entirely different level. I no longer a bystander. I’m right in the cage with the lions. Whether or not I get eaten up is up for grabs. I do however feel I’ve carved out my corner there. I feel that I’m getting more and more positive feedback lately ad it feels good.

All the Concert Photography you could possibly stand.   http://www.damionphoto.com/Music/About.html

I started United By Rocket Science with my friend Dave back in May and have enjoyed every minute of it. Both Dave and Me have seperate blogs/sites that, at the time, weren’t giving us a lot of inspiration to work on. Combining forces really gave us the kick in the ass we needed. Since we started we’ve been focused on doing reviews, interviews and covering local music to our best ability. It’s been a blast exploring the vastness of the music coming out of the basements and beer halls of the tri-state and beyond. Check us out and help spread the word.

One more Music Blog can save the world.          http://unitedbyrocketscience.blogspot.com/

To Print or Not to Print

Digital Printing, Finding Solutions

Earlier today I received a somewhat shocking  email from my photo lab. Along with asking me to update my profile and,  perhaps remove some of the older folders that I won’t be making any reorders on. All seemingly routine reminders. The shocking came when they noted that I had not printed a thing in just under a year. “Wait? Are you kidding me?” I knew I hadn’t printed anything in a while and it was something that has been on the forefront of my mind. But a year? That was flat out nuts. I had some serious catching up to do.

Later in the day I went back to my computer and out of pure curiosity I took a look at my Aperture program. Aperture houses all my photography neatly in folders, all marked with dates and titles. I scrolled down to 2011 which hosted about 18,000 files. “Damn, some of these are pretty damn good.” “Certainly good enough to print.” Right?

The task, a daunting one at that, will be approached slowly. I’m hoping to be in a new home by Sping/Summer and I don’t want to be adding to the already endless amount of pictures, albums and frames I already have. But considering how hard drives crash and files get wiped out I should be careful to preserve the the best of the best.