We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rosso Damien. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rosso below.

Rosso, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I was 100% self-taught when I set up my company in 2009. Then, with the evolution of equipment and the development of my practice, I quickly realized that it was important to train in order to evolve with my profession. Initially, I was just a photographer, specializing in sports (Mountain Bike, Road Bike, Moto Cross, Trail Running, etc.). Little by little, my customers asked me to make films or videos for social networks.
I train with professionals and specialists in their field.
The most important skills to acquire are to be curious, to observe everything and all the time, but also to enjoy looking at what others are doing, in other sectors of activity. For my part, I work a lot in sport, in conditions that aren’t always easy (rain, snow, heat, mountains, etc.), so you need to know how to adapt and be in good physical condition. The main obstacle preventing me from learning more is time. Running a business requires a great deal of rigor at every level (administration, customer management, communication management, shooting, editing, etc.) and it’s hard to find the time to train, even though it’s the most important thing.
In 2019, a client ask me to realize a documentary film about the women cycling, I never do that, but I accept the challenge for some reason. The main and primary reason was that I liked the subject and that I was going to be working with a journalist I knew well. And the second was the challenge. We filmed during a year and the documentary was released a week before the Covid situation in March 2020. The film was selected in a film festival during all the year in 2021 in France and some country in Europe.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Damien Rosso professional photographer and filmmaker in Vaucluse

I live at the bottom of Mont Ventoux in France.

I’m 42 years old and my company DROZ PHOTO was created 15 years ago.

In 2008, I was working as a sales manager in the sports industry. I was getting bored in this job and had already started to take photos a little more professionally to supplement my income.

I decided to set up my own business, DROZ PHOTO, in April 2009. The beginning wasn’t easy, as with every new project, but I quickly found clients (mostly sports brands) and then went on to work for major sports brands, and I’ve been doing so ever since 2010.

There are now two of us working in my company, and we call on external service providers when we need them.

With our vast experience of working with companies in sectors as diverse as food, industry, sport and wine, we can offer you effective and innovative photographic solutions. We’re also here to advise and support you throughout your projects. Always striving to bring you the very best, we regularly update our skills in new technologies.

Our customers’ trust is our greatest satisfaction. For many years, they have called on us to cover prestigious sporting events such as the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, Trail du Ventoux, Western States, Diagonale des Fous, Grand Trail de Serre Poncon, or for their advertising campaigns with renowned brands such as Specialized, Five Gloves, Salomon, Red Bull, WRC Promoter, Nacon, Giant Bicycles and many others. We’re also proud to highlight the expertise of their teams, whether in wine, crafts, tourism or sport.

Many athletes have passed before our lenses in many different sports: Loic Bruni, François D’Haene, Kilian Jornet, Steve Peat, Pauline Ferrand Prévot, Julien Absalon, Sébastien Loeb, Jim Wamsley.

This job requires great adaptability and creativity. Our biggest challenge is to be creative and to be able to respond constantly to the changing demands of our customers. To do this, we quickly realized that training by competent and professional people was necessary to increase our know-how.

Nous proposons de nombreux services, de la photographie et vidéo évènementielle, à la photographie et vidéo publicitaire. Nous réalisons également de nombreux projets pour les réseaux sociaux, qui est une forte demande de nos jours.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I love working in difficult conditions. I work mainly in outdoor sports and I like it when the weather is not too kind (rain, fog, etc…).
The events I’ve enjoyed the most are those where the race duration is long (Ultra Trail in particular), where you have to walk in the mountains for hours on end in search of good spots and good light. And there are images to be taken day and night, as the races last between 18 and 30 hours.
There’s also a race that starts at night that I like, because it’s winter and it’s cold, and it’s always interesting to have to think about what kind of images we’re going to make.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

5 years ago, I had a major customer for whom I’d been working for 9 years. He was my biggest customer. At the end of each year, we’d discuss the following year’s contract again, and that year, I had a hard time getting answers, and it was quite complicated. After several reminders I finally managed to get an answer, but my customer wanted to continue working with me for a budget 50% lower than usual. I refused with a great deal of apprehension and stress, as I had just hired my first employee.
It was very difficult to refuse because I was working with superb athletes, it was a great brand that had always made me dream, but I couldn’t accept to reduce my rate by 50% even for a big contract, it was contrary to my values and my worth.
They were my biggest customer, and the loss of revenue was enormous.
I took a week of winnowing and did a lot of canvassing. I ended up working with a lot of other customers, and that year we increased our sales by 30%.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.droz-photo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drozphoto
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damien-rosso-1856a565/

Image Credits

Damien Rosso / www.droz-photo.com