New Jersey-based photographer Danny Clinch has photographed rock stars, artists and even a sitting U.S. President.
He dropped by "Out of the Box" with Jonathan Clarke to talk about some of his experiences with some of the biggest artists in rock and roll, including Bruce Springsteen (who wrote the foreword to Clinch's book), Eddie Vedder (who appears on the cover of the book), Keith Richards, B.B. King and Bob Dylan.
You can see many of his shots in his new book, Still Moving by Danny Clinch, which is available now.
Clinch described to Clarke how his love for photography developed at an early age, and how he got started as a "rock" photog.
"How I started, pretty much, was by sneaking my camera in [to concerts]," he tells Clarke, describing how (in an age before iPhones) he would take apart his camera and have each one of his friends sneak in a part for him.
"So I'd get in, I'd have the camera body down my pants. I'd collect all the stuff from my friends [i.e. lenses and rolls of film], and they would know that I would disappear. And I would try to sneak into the front row somehow, and I always made it up there. [That accounts for] the first time I photographed Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, etcetera...then I started to get assignments."
Clinch says his philosophy is to always have his camera with him because he can always potentially run into someone interesting.
"I felt like if I could get two or three frames off...I could get some magic, and hope for that magic to happen."
To Clinch, he sees his own art as documenting art as others create it.
"I love the real stuff," he says. "That's why I love being in the recording studio when someone's making a record or backstage when someone's writing a set list...walking to the stage. Those things feel so real to me. They're things that people don't get to see."
He also discussed the advent of digital photography and how it has helped photographers like him capture candid moments that rarely occur in an ideal lighting circumstance.
"The possibility of shooting in low light has changed immensely; you don't have to carry a flash everywhere, and I was never fond of the flash. I happen to like existing light and dark corners. I've spent a lot of time on dark tour buses, dark backstage rooms and dark hallways, really hoping for the best. And that creates some beauty too, but now you have the opportunity to choose."
Still Moving by Danny Clinch has a lot of all of those scenes, including many photos you may know well. You can see more of Clinch's work in an exhibit at the Asbury Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ, through September 15, 2017, at his official website, dannyclinch.com, or on his Instagram page.
Keep up with Clinch's band, The Tangiers Blues Band, here.
Watch the full interview above.
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Photos: Sam Valorose