David Jay · he/him
I photograph people who want to be seen as they are, not reshaped into someone else's picture.
Elopements. Lovers sessions. Intimate portraits. Three kinds of work with one thing in common: giving full attention to whoever is in front of me.
I live in Nantes and travel throughout Europe.
THOMAS + CLAIRE, COPENHAGEN
SOME DAYS YOU DOCUMENT. SOME DAYS YOU FEEL IN YOUR CHEST.
Why so early? Because the streets were empty. That was the plan: a Copenhagen that belonged only to them for an hour.
Thomas and Claire flew in from Lyon and Montréal. After two postponed dates and a long-distance year, they arrived in Copenhagen to marry with no guests and no schedule beyond the ceremony. The first frames that morning were a little shy. Small gestures, kept close.
Under an old archway, as the sun started to warm the brick, I photographed the kiss they had promised each other they wouldn't do for the camera. I didn't ask for a second take. It was quiet, and it said everything.
The morning after the ceremony, both of them cried. They shook the registrar's hand twice. That's the moment I keep coming back to. Not just the kiss. The gratitude.
JULES + ANA, NANTES
From the start, we knew it would be just us two.
Ana is my wife. She is quiet by nature and doesn't love being the centre of a room. Long before plans had to change, we knew our day would never be about a crowd looking on. It was always going to be about the two of us.
We booked a small inn, the town hall, a photographer, matching tattoos in place of rings, a long lunch and a slow evening. Then spring 2020 happened. Our decision held. Most of the details didn't.
We still went to the town hall. Our photographer could only work outdoors, so that's where our portraits were made. The inn was cancelled. The tattoos were postponed. The lunch never happened. We ordered takeaway and ate it on our kitchen floor.
It wasn't the day we'd pictured, but the reason behind it never changed. We wanted space to be fully present with each other. That never needed an audience.
WHY DAVIDJAY
DAVIDJAY MEANS ROOM TO BREATHE.
DAVIDJAY was a feeling long before it was a name.
I spent countless evenings on the quay at the old port market, or somewhere nearby, watching the boats. I never needed to know their destination. Knowing they could leave was enough.
That's what the harbour has always meant to me. The chance to set out. The chance to come home. And the freedom to choose your own course in between.
HOW I PHOTOGRAPH
I watch first. I guide when it's useful.
At an elopement, I follow the day as it unfolds. I stay near, pay close attention and now and then nudge you toward something good: softer light, a calmer corner, a little closer together. I don't direct people like actors or turn the day into a film set.
Lovers sessions and intimate portraits might start from a rough idea, a mood board or one image I'd love to try. For portraits, I sometimes compose very carefully. I may place you in the light, ask you to shift or tell you where to look.
Then I let go. The directions stop, you stop waiting for the next one, and something happens that neither of us could have scripted. That is usually where the best frame lives.
You don't need to know what to do in front of my lens. That's my part of the job.
WHAT I CARE ABOUT
I've cooked vegetarian for most of my life. Music and the road shaped me long before photography became my job. I'd rather be up for sunrise than out late. None of that is a checklist. It just shows that I've spent most of my adult life asking whether a habit actually has a reason behind it.
Long rides. My way to reset.
Ana and me at our yearly-ish portrait session.
A small club show, 2008. From an old band archive.
With a friend on the Atlantic coast, during a beach clean-up weekend.
Next to an old shipwreck on the coast. A grey morning, a long walk.
The Breton coast, Quiberon, April 2026.
That same question follows me into this work. Does a tradition matter to you, or are you doing it because someone expects you to? I care about your answer, not about making things look the way they're supposed to.
This is a welcoming space for every couple and every story. You don't need to share my history or arrive with a finished plan. You just need to know that the person you love, the way you look and the life you've built will never be treated here as something to fix.
"I'm comfortable in front of a lens, but I've never felt this relaxed. Jules doesn't just set up shots, he makes the whole thing feel personal."
Sophie & NathanCopenhagen Lovers Session
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Skip the polished version. Tell me what sounds like you, what's still undecided and what you keep thinking about.
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