My name is Dimitri Phalen, a Canadian born photographer, and in nearly seven years I’ve been able to take what I do around the world. 24 nations of it. I will never call what I do “art”, I am the technical imager. The geek. The guy who thinks of his favorite colour as r254-g126-b3. Who else considers “my $9000 camera was destroyed by angry penguin” a life acheivement? Who else spends Christmas running from out-of-control cheap Indian sport cars while commanding a hundred man movie crew in Delhi? I can’t claim any stable shooting existance, nor can I honestly say I know where I’ll be mere weeks ahead, but I’m not complaining.
This site is effectively dedicated to those wondering what I do, be it a potential client or girl shy about choosing her photographer. So let me be clear. I don’t do weddings, I don’t do family portraits, nor will I ever shoot your cat in a christmas elf costume. You will never see me taking bad photos from the side of a kids soccer game, I won’t be selling school photos in wallet size prints. Never will I show up to a trade show with printers in the back of a van, or knock on doors offering amazing portraits of your property.
Too many kids these days take a quick “art photography” diploma and pretend to be pros, too many creepy old guys asking young girls to undress for supposed “art”, too many enthusiasts with money but no actual technical understanding of the most basic elements of the tools they use who still try to get by on “feeling the emotion of a scene” and other depressing cliches. “Art” alone does not produce viable images for real world use, commercial images are not based on artistic merit over final product. I am here to seriously practice my trade, to understand exactly what must be done for professional images. I have literally helped design next generation camera systems, I’ve taught lighting tech at the university level, I’ve mounted pro lighting around a helipad at the front of a cruise ship sailing the open Spanish seas to shoot dancers in a way others thought insane. If I have your attention, the rest of my site is waiting.
Dimitri “Dimmer” Phalen
founder of dimmerswitch.ca and the DSYJK group
