The Lovegrove portfolio critique service comprises 2 one-hour sessions via Skype for £160
Session 1 (1 hour)
An overview of your body of work, past and present, incorporating any genres and styles that you’ve shot. This session will give a good feeling of where you are on your photographic journey. I will identify traits and ideas in your images that can be further explored or refined.
Session 2 (1 hour)
Using a whittled down collection of your images, I will drill down to find an emerging style and help define a strategy for future work. Where simple improvements can be made to your images by cropping or post-production I will share my vision with you using a live demo via a screen share.
High Technical Quality
I use a combination of Ecamm Live Pro with Skype so that I can share my screen in super high quality with you and provide a picture in picture experience so that we can feel more connected. I use a pro grade Fujifilm camera and a broadcast quality microphone for crystal clear sound.
Local Recording
I record my side of our session locally and I can send it to you afterwards using WeTransfer if the transmission quality had dropped for any reason.
At a Time to Suit You
I work in a wide range of time zones and I’m available to give 1:1 sessions from 09:00 – 23:00 GMT (UTC). I run critique sessions for clients in New York, Panama, Munich and Hong Kong among other locations.
How many images should I choose?
60 is a good number to start with. We will discuss the collection as a whole in session 1 then I’ll go into more detail on 30 or so of them. In session 2 we can enhance the PP on some shots, tweak the crops and I can sum up with a host of further ideas that you can apply to your work.
The benefits of critique
“Sometimes the most obvious route to self-development is staring you right in the face, but you just can’t see the wood for the trees.” Damien Lovegrove
A critique session can help you identify direction, style, and areas of potential in your photography. It’s important to work out early on where progress can be made. Sometimes we need to weed out weaknesses that lie in post-production or your shooting technique.
It’s amazing how much improvement in image quality can be achieved with just the slightest of changes being made at the shooting stage. I will show you what to tweak with your lighting technique or perhaps how to get a stronger connection with your subject. Often the greatest steps forward come from combining attributes that you already have in your photography and leaving out the least successful elements.
Critique is not all about assessing and judging your work to date. I see it as an opportunity to provide direction and clarity on your route ahead. It’s important for me to champion the best elements in your photography and for you to build on them. I don’t want you to be scared of this process; as artists, we can be fragile and become very defensive. I like to protect you and ensure they you have a clear understanding of where you can take your work. It’s a long journey and it is important to move forward with a feeling of achievement of your progress so far.
Your personal tutor: Damien Lovegrove
I am kind, sharing and patient. I take care to communicate in in a sensitive way. I am good at appreciating achievement and seeing potential rather than just problems. Having said that I am honest and I say it as I see it.
As a specialist portrait photographer with 35 years of professional photography under my belt, I have developed a finely tuned understanding of light. I also understand subject connection and emotional narrative in portraiture and how hard this is to achieve. It’s a bit like riding a bike uphill at times but when it all starts to click you can enjoy the journey down the other side. Once you know what to look for in your photography everything becomes easier and far more enjoyable. A critique with me will help you develop as a photographer.
I’m ready to book
Click here to request a chat with me about your options. Or book your place below and I will contact you to arrange all the details.
This is the deposit payment for the Matera workshop that runs from 8-14 September 2025
A balance payment of £3880 or equivalent is due by bank transfer on Monday, 30th June, ten weeks before the workshop.
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Reviews From Google
On top of this there were all the non-photography things that made the trip stand out, a lovely villa with a chef that cooked us breakfast and dinner, nice bottles of wine and great lunch spots. We learnt during the day and bonded at night, talking photography, life and much more... A truly memorable experience. Note: My husband came as an add-on and equally enjoyed the trip!
There are a number of reasons for why this is my third workshop with Damien. But especially one reason stands out.
I am fully aware there are other good photographers. I am however convinced there are very few if any who are able to create a relaxed yet serious and creative atmosphere where workshops participants and models are motivated to do their very best to make excellent pictures, to learn, and to have fun at the same time of.
Lovegrove is a generous person in every sense of the word and even though he is the “instructor” he is more than willing to listen to ideas to try out new ways and to change the program.
The one-hour lightroom follow up session on Teams is a kind of dessert where we discussed the workshop and I got some very useful ideas for how to edit my pictures.
I will finally comment the model Michela. Her mature personality, charisma and engagement made a great contribution to two amazing days
There is always time & space to investigate your own version of an image, but when you get stuck assistance always arrives from Damien at exactly the right time, this cannot be a coincidence! The success of these events is down to a combination of Damien’s enthusiasm and the fine details at the planning stage. The events that I’ve been on have cemented my passion for photography and enriched my life.
Many thanks & looking forward to more adventures in the future.
Dave.
The workshop didn't disappoint. I came away with plenty of photos that I (and many of my photography-circle friends whom I showed them to) like a great deal.
The group of participants was kept small. We stayed in a nice villa. Meals were great. And importantly, the photography locations were very well-researched, up to the hour to be at a particular location to catch the sun at the right angle etc.
Damien was a good teacher, answering and patiently explaining all the questions we asked him. He was also well-prepared with supporting equipment eg. lights etc. for each of the settings so that our photos would turn out with the special oomph factor. The models he engaged for the shoot were experienced, patient and helpful towards us participants regardless of our experience level.
All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience and I came away with photos what I would never have imagined that I could achieve. I certainly look forward to joining his future workshops again.