Damien Davis is a talented Freelance Photographer based in London, SICKMANSICK caught up with him after the recent Transformers 2 premiere.

SICKMANSICK: Damien, thank you for giving us some time out for this interview, what projects have you been working on recently?

No problem.  I've been working on marketing myself as a wedding photographer,  I've done a few fashion shoots, and I've also been editing my back catalogue of travel images, I'm hoping to get these on sale online soon.

I studied graphic design in Johannesburg and then worked as a designer for a few years, but I wanted to do something more adventurous, which drew me towards photography.  I decided to move to England, since then I have worked as a digital artist in a photo studio, a property photographer, a nightclub photographer, a wedding photographer and now I freelance fulltime.

South Africa will always be my home, but at the moment I live in Clapham in London.  I like the buzz of London, and Clapham is one of my favourite areas in the city.

There are many many many photographers who inspire me, as well as any amazing actors, musicians and really charismatic people.  Someone else who stands out is Boris Vallejo, he's an artist who did science fiction type paintings, mostly in the 80s i think.

I use Canon equipment, one day when I can afford to I'd like to use Hasselblad as well, Hasselblad's image quality is unbelievable, and I use a fair amount of Adobe Photoshop.

Very! I don't like over processed images, but photography has changed a lot, you have to use post-production and enhance your images slightly to keep up with the current standards of photography.

Definitely.  Get out there and experiment as much as possible.  You can't learn to ride a bicycle by reading a book.

I have many hurdles at the moment, photography is very competitive and its not easy freelancing in the current economic climate.  The advice I would give, I read this somewhere once: 'If you keep your eyes focused on the goal you won't even see the obstacles.'

It depends on what type of photography they'd like to end up doing, if you know straight away that you want to be a fashion photographer or a press photographer, then that's great and you can just go straight for that.  Most people don't know at first what type of photography they want to do, and then its best just to get out there and work, work, work, try everything.

I love travelling.  I also like playing guitar.

Technology is making photography easier and easier, anyone can take really good photos nowadays.  This makes it harder to succeed as a professional photographer, but its also good because it means you have to push yourself even harder to be creative and come up with photography which stands out.

Thank you.  I try to do exactly what you've just said, capture the energy and atmosphere of a moment.  I like to show people and places at their best or from an unusual perspective.

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