I found this great interview with Clinch from the website ToyCamera. Clinch is well known for his honest and intimate portrait photography. What some might not know is at least a few of his famous images have been shot on "toy cameras."
Here Clinch talks about shooting some of the biggest names in music with $100 or less Holga & Lomography cameras. Once again proving, it's the camera but the artist behind it.
Shooting Stars with Toy Cameras - An Interview with Danny Clinch
Written by Dave Bias
Danny Clinch is a rock star. He’s been on stage with some of the greatest musicians of our
time, and his harmonica talents have graced Foo Fighters records and a Phish show or two. But
most of the time, the reason he’s on stage has nothing to do with playing with the band, but
rather photographing them. He’s said before that his favorite spot is right behind the drum kit,
and bands like Pearl Jam like his fly-on-the-wall demeanor, creeping around the stage like a
shadow and capturing those candid moments when the band truly connects with its audience.
But the members of Pearl Jam (and Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Ben Harper, Ryan Adams,
the list goes on...) are always aware of Danny’s presence and will occasionally turn to face the
lens so he can get that perfect shot.
Perfect shots might populate Clinch’s portfolio, but he’s been shooting with less than perfect
cameras for many years, going all the way back to childhood
“I got my start in photography with a camera I won at a church function—a Keystone 126
camera, if I remember correctly,” Clinch explains. “I often tell the story about the Keystone, but it
never occurred to me how it fits into the theme of plastic toy cameras. It got left on the
dashboard of my mom’s AMC Gremlin when we went to the beach one day. The camera
basically melted, but it still worked, so I used it anyway and I would get some weird, funky
photos out of it.”
HISTORY
Throughout the late 80’s, while at the New England School of Photography in Boston, Clinch
started sneaking his cameras into live shows. He would slowly infiltrate the scene, getting to
know people until finally they trusted him enough to let him come shoot backstage and even on
stage with the musicians. These were his first steps into a career as a music photographer.
He quickly began to focus on music in his documentary courses and one of his instructors who
also photographed musicians encouraged him to pursue his passion.
“I also did a couple of workshops while in school. As it turned out, the Ansel Adams Gallery
workshop I attended had Annie Liebowitz as an instructor. I ended up with an internship in her
studio. We worked with a lot of musicians there and in turn, it piqued my interest in continuing to
photograph musicians.”
His stint with Liebowitz would lead to assistantships with Mary Ellen Mark and Timothy White. It
was during this period, in the early 90’s, that a friend reintroduced him to toy cameras. This
time, it was a Diana.
“I just kind of embraced it. I liked the quality of it, and on my assignments I started to throw a
little Diana in the mix, or a little Holga. I also started to shoot with one of those golf-swing
cameras—a four-frame camera. I used it back when they were made just for checking golf
swings—before everybody got on the bandwagon with it. I really love that camera. Photos from
that camera have been used on a lot of album packaging and in my portfolio.
“During that same time I started getting assignments for music magazines and I used another
plastic camera that I found at a garage sale. It was a Trump Castle Casino panoramic
camera—just a simple plastic camera with a plastic lens and a mask in the back to make it
shoot panoramic. I shot the Smashing Pumpkins with that one. And I remember getting
photographs with it that I thought were super cool and interesting. I would load it with 3200 film
and shoot in super low light. The edges were really ragged and I’d print them full-frame and it
was pretty cool.”
The “golf-swing” camera, of course, is well known to toy camera fans these days as the Lomo
Action Sampler and the Trump Castle Casino camera is none other than the Ansco Panorama.
Danny wasn’t too surprised to hear that the Ansco Panorama (and its clones) has a pretty avid
user-base even today and he’s well aware of the Lomography movement that has popularized
the Action Sampler, Holga and Kompakt Automat.
WORKING WITH MUSICIANS
Although one will find the odd actor or politician among Danny’s professional work, his
photographs (and films) of musicians are his first love. He began, like many photographers,
taking whatever opportunities came his way. Fortunately for him (and us), his experience with
Liebowitz quickly opened doors.
“My first major music magazine assignment came from Spin. One of my first assignments for
them, if not the first, was to photograph the hip hop group Third Base. I was really nervous
about the shoot at the time but I felt like I really came through on it. I was really happy with it so
I took the photographs to Def Jam Records—to the creative department there. Initially, they
refused to meet with me to look at my portfolio until I told them that I had shot Third Base and
that I owned the rights to the pictures. They saw it as an opportunity to get some photos of the
group without having to pay too much for them. So I met with the guys who did the design for all
of Def Jam records and we really hit it off. They started to give me assignments to shoot other
Def Jam artists like Public Enemy and LL Cool J and a lot of other hip hop stuff. I got a lot of
work from those guys.”
The domino effect continued when MC Serch of Third Base asked Danny to work with other
artists Serch was producing. This culminated with his shooting for the first two CDs of then
up-and-coming rapper Nas.
“When I was shooting hip hop artists, everything was ‘keep it real’ and it was, in a sense,
documentary style. I shot that way on most of those shoots and I think that’s what was needed
at the time in that community. It was a big break for me because hip hop, in the early 90s, was
just beginning to get a lot of commercial acknowledgement, but the photography and the people
doing it weren’t the big names. They were hiring a lot of young photographers to do work that
was getting seen a lot.
“In addition, I’m lucky that documentary style never goes out of style. It’s just good, honest
photography. A lot of rock bands were vibing on that as well. Bands like Jane’s Addiction or
Smashing Pumpkins would see my work and say ‘Oh, this guy shot Public Enemy and Nas. I
love Public Enemy. I love Nas. These pictures are cool.’ So I was getting some notice based on
the fact that I shot these hip hop groups, and I got those mostly because they weren’t paying big
names or big budgets on these hip hop shoots.”
Over time, Clinch found that certain artists were particularly well-suited to toy camera
photography. He mentions that Tom Waits and Pearl Jam used some of his toy camera photos
for packaging or posters.
“There are people who are just more artistically bent than others. I’ve talked photography with
Bruce Springsteen a bunch, because he takes pictures. He’s a guy who’s involved in his career
on every level and he’s an artist on every level. He’s not just a musician—he’s a visual artist as
well. I’m not sure if I turned him onto toy cameras or not—because he knows a lot about
photography already—but we were talking a couple of years ago and he mentioned that he’s a
big fan of Dianas and Holgas and toy cameras in general and if you look in the album packaging
of The Rising and in any of his tour books of the last few years, you’ll see toy camera pictures
that I took. In the tour books, especially, you’ll see these huge full-page pictures of him that I
shot with my Diana—of him and his guitar, or just him, or even these abstract, out-of-focus,
in-the-dark moments that he totally embraces.”
It’s that kind of artist-to-artist connection that is the common thread throughout Danny’s work.
He relates an often-told story that helps him connect with musicians in their own language.
“There is a guitar called the Dan Electro. The Dan Electro is the musician’s version of the Diana,
in my eyes. When I pull out the Diana and I start a little discussion with the person about it—I
show it to them and explain that this is a toy camera, made in the fifties, and it’s so bad it’s
good. Then I tell them it kind of reminds me of the Dan Electro. It’s got its place and it’s got its
certain tone and it’s got its certain characteristics where you wouldn’t use it all the time, but at
certain times it’s the only thing you’d use. So that’s how I explain it to the musicians and then
their eyebrows rise up and they say, ‘Oh yeah! The Dan Electro! I know exactly what you’re
talking about.’”
TAKING CHANCES
Shooting with a toy camera, as Light Leaks readers know very well, is a different experience
than shooting with “real” cameras. There’s no meter, focusing is a best-guess scenario and
even one’s best efforts with the gaffers tape might not squash all those light leaks. Many toy
camera photographers modify their usual technique when using toys, although Clinch doesn’t
completely agree.
“I don’t know that I feel that my technique changes entirely when I use plastic cameras,” he
says. “I mean, I don’t double-expose my other cameras on a regular basis and I often double
expose my toy camera shots. They’re just different animals, so you have to adjust... The
four-frame is different because it works great with a lot of movement with the camera itself, or
when I shoot with a half-frame camera, I tend to get these really bold but really loose
compositions for some reason. I just think that working with toys in general is an opportunity to
take a lot more chances.
“You’re always taking a chance when you use toy cameras... I like to overlap frames and do
double exposures and take risks with the plastic cameras. When I was shooting the Bruce
Springsteen stuff, I shot a lot of live stuff and everything was going great. But then I thought,
‘How can I take a chance and try something that’s different from just capturing a shot of Bruce
at the microphone?’ Since he was often working with a large band, I would pull out the Holga,
set it on bulb, and shoot half the band on one frame, then let it overlap and shoot the other half
of the band on the next frame.
“But it takes the right person to say, ‘Wow, this is cool!’ like you or I would. Somebody else
might look at it and say, ‘What is this? It’s out of focus and blurry because everyone’s moving
and it’s double-exposed.’ I often throw Diana and Holga shots into the proofs I show clients and
I’ll go a bunch of shoots in a row with absolutely no response to those photos and then,
somebody you’d never expect ends up placing orders for the toy camera shots.”
Taking chances with toys extends Danny’s repertoire in ways that aren’t always completely
obvious, but are actually somewhat practical. Working with musicians and celebrities, he is
often under the gun and has very limited time with the artist to try to get something interesting.
He explains, “I can shoot something with, say, a Hasselblad, then turn around and shoot the
same thing with a Holga and it gives them an entirely different option just by picking up another
camera. I’ve also been in situations where, for example, Missy Elliot has given me ten minutes
in her hotel room, or just outside her dressing room, so I show up with my whole arsenal. In
those situations, plastic cameras are really helpful because even though you’re taking a chance
that you might not get anything, you’re also increasing your chances that you’ll get something
really good or with a certain flavor to it that you wouldn’t have gotten with anything else.”
Taking chances also includes the possibility that a particularly vain artist might not want to
appear in a “crappy” toy camera photo. Although Clinch says he’s never had anyone flat-out
refuse to be shot with plastics, he says, “You know... I have had comments in jest where
someone says ‘We’re paying you all this money and you’re shooting us with a toy?’ It’s always a
joke and a good laugh. I will often wait to get their reaction when they’re looking at it and try to
capture that reaction when they’re like ‘What the hell is that?!’ So I have managed over the
years to get some pretty interesting comments and shots from my toys.”
In the past few years, Danny has added moving images to the stills. He toured with Ben Harper
and Ryan Adams. He’s made two documentaries about Bonnaroo and in 2005, he filmed
videos and shot stills for Bruce Springsteen’s DualDisc of Devils and Dust. Clinch sites his work
with The Boss as some of his very favorite.
“That Springsteen shoot I did was really amazing. I got a call from his assistant who said, ‘Bruce
just asked if you wanted to come over on Sunday and shoot some pictures because he’s going
to be in his living room with a bunch of really interesting musicians, recording a record.’
Needless to say, I said, ‘Sure!’
“I talked to his manager and assistant to try to get a feeling for what Bruce was looking for and
nobody seemed to know, so I called them back and asked to speak to Bruce who said, ‘Oh, you
know, I’m doing this thing and it’s really exciting... Why don’t you just bring a little extra color film
since the last thing was really black & white...’
“Shooting Bruce is really lo-fi. He never uses a stylist. I show up with my cameras and maybe
my assistant and just shoot pictures. This could be normal or abnormal, I’m not sure. In a lot of
the entertainment industry, especially with someone of his caliber, there’s a lot more production
going on, but Bruce just happens to be very lo-fi.
“I had a feeling it was going to be a little more intense than just me with one or two of my
cameras, so I grabbed my assistant and we went over there. It was really just documenting
mostly, but toward the end of the day, right at ‘magic hour,’ the light was really sweet in his
backyard and the band was just about to take a break. I suggested we take a little time and run
outside to shoot some portraits. So inside of twenty minutes, I shot these really spontaneous
portraits of everybody in his band. They ended up using those in the CD package. The designer
did a really fantastic job and it came out great. The shoot was totally unplanned and we didn’t
really even talk too much about it. I just went and did it and the result was extremely rewarding.”
FAVORITES
No toy camera magazine interview of Danny Clinch would be complete without asking him
about his favorites—influences, films, mods.
He states that there are no particular toy camera photographers he looks to as influences in his
own work, saying, “I don’t see a whole lot of toy camera work—I don’t really search it out, but I
think I will after this interview. I’ll definitely visit the website you talked about (toycamera.com),
because when I do see toy camera work, I really get into it. I just grew up working with these toy
cameras with my friend, Gary Ashley, who originally turned me on to the Diana. He’s great. He’s
got a whole series on Elvis that he did down at the Elvis birthday anniversaries...”
As mentioned earlier, Danny loves his 3200 film for low light situations. In other circumstances,
he counts on Kodak EPL, a 400 ASA slide film that he always cross-processes.
“Cross-processing almost any slide film increases the contrast and I think the added contrast is
a great balance with the softness of the plastic lenses.”
Clinch regularly travels with a few toys: two Holgas, his original Diana clone and the Action
Sampler. In addition, he’s also fond of his half-frame camera and his Widelux
panoramic—neither of which could be considered toys but both have their own distinctive look
and uses.
As for modifications, he says, “I’ll look to you guys for some suggestions on this because I
haven’t done a lot of them. I mean, I’ve done some stuff with the Holga where I darken the lens
on the outside with a Sharpie or put a lighter to the lens to warp it. The other thing I did was take
one of my four-frame cameras and remove the lenses to drill out the aperture. They shoot at f11
and I really wanted to use it in low light situations. I tried using high-speed film but it just wasn’t
cutting it, so we drilled one out and it worked ok...
“But after this conversation, I think I’m going to try some stuff with my Holga. I shoot a lot in low
light and basically have to shoot on bulb. As cool as that looks and as interesting as those
things can be, it would be nice to be able to not use bulb. Do you know people who have
modified the apertures on Holgas?”
Oh, DO we!
Dave Bias lives in New York, NY and toys with his Holgamods Holga 120N.
via Toy Camera: Shooting Stars with Toy Cameras - An Interview with Danny Clinch
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