Danny Clinch

Danny Clinch is renown in the popular music scene for being a top class photographer and film director. He has been involved with many artists from a variety of genres over his career, from the likes of Johnny Cash, Tupac Shakur and John Mayer. His photographs have been successful with many magazines including Rolling Stone, Esquire and Vanity Fair, and also appeared on many album covers. In his directing career, Clinch has recieved two grammy nominations. One in 2005 for Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and a second in 2009 for John Mayer's "Where The Light Is - Live in Los Angeles" full concert video (which is the best DVD I own). He has also directed for Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, John Legend, and Foo Fighters just to name a few. 

John Mayer's Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - Where The Light Is

Clinch's Artist History:

• Eddie Vedder
• Spoon
• Ryan Bingham
• Kris Kristofferson
• Charlie Mars
• Ben Harper and Relentless
• John Legend
• O.A.R
• Melissa Etheridge
• Chris Daughtry
• Tom Waits
• Pearl Jam
• Bruce Springsteen
• Willie Nelson
• Van Morrison
• Dave Matthews
• John Mayer

Above is Daughtry's Home, another video by Clinch

Showcase 01

Clinch's most successful work is arguably his grammy nominations, Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and Mayer's "Where The Light Is". He has also released other successful music documentaries and full length concert videos, such as "Immagine in Cornice" which followed Pearl Jam throughout their tour of Italy and 2006's "Skin and Bones" which tracked the Foo Fighters. 

(From here the links are optional)

Clinch is also heavily involved in photography, perhaps more so than film. He has photographed anyone who is anyone in the music business, and held a photo room at the 53'rd grammy awards ceremony. On his website there are numerous show cases to be viewed. He has also delved into advertising, taking on the fashion work of John Varvatos in which he photographed many famous musicians wearing Varvatos, such as Dave Matthews, Slash, Joe Perry, Paul Weller, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. He is a great photographer, and his work speaks for it's self. 

Varvatos Fashion featuring Dave Matthews and a monkey

Clinch's music video style is very much about filming performances. When compared to someone such as Jonas Akerland (Lady Gaga's Paparazzi) which has a narrative and character based play, Clinch takes a very laid back, "unobtrusive" approach", for example in Dave Matthews' "Save Me". The video is casual and relaxed, and tried to pass over the personalities of those involved rather than create new ones or tell a particular story. He is very much into limited effects, and appears to enjoy working with black and white. Clinch very rarely uses anything further back than a mid shot, in both is filming and photography. 

Clinch has also set up his own production company called Three on the Tree, and all his full concert films and documentaries are produced through his own company. This means that the success of his grammy nominations is also linked to his production company. 

I love Danny Clinch's work and he happens work with some of my favorite artists. I love the minimalist style of just recording shows and studio work. I also admire that he has stuck to what he enjoys and still found success. He hasn't followed other directors in forcing narrative lines and such.