Korn‘s Jonathan Davis was so excited by ORGY that he created his own record label …
Music, photography, painting, designing—there are so many different things we can call ‘art’.
The great thing about art is how every aspect can work together so seamlessly. In Daniel Anderson’s case he combined his love of live music with his passion photography. The end result, some kick-ass cover art and live action photos.
Over the last few years, the Melbourne-based snapper has created a name for himself both locally and internationally with his eerie and unique photography. But for Dan, photography wasn’t always his thing.
“No interest whatsoever [in photography],” Dan says. “When I was younger, about 16, I would take videos of my friends skateboarding and stuff. But then on my 21st birthday I got a camera from my parents and haven’t really put it down since.”
Based on a true story // Daniel Anderson
Today will be the last day that I self destruct // Daniel Anderson
Although photography came later, Dan’s always been an artsy guy. He’d been in bands before his interest in being behind the camera took hold.
“Before I got into photography I was playing in bands, so I had a lot of friends and contacts in the industry. When I got my camera I was in a band and we were touring at the time, and I was having more fun after we played the set taking photos of the other bands and the fans. So I was like okay I’m doing this wrong and swapped them.”
We live in a pretty insane world at the moment. There’s soaring happiness and crushing sadness, all at the same time. When I’m behind the camera, I can forget about the entire world and the only thing that matters is the subject in front of me.
[ DANIEL ]
That love of music is what helps create Dan’s interesting and sometimes weird photos. Photos that have been used on websites, social media and most recently as the album cover for Ocean Grove’s The Rhapsody Tapes.
Ocean Grove ‘The Rhapsody Tapes’ cover photo // Daniel Anderson
“That was pretty cool. I’ve shot with them quite a few times so they wanted to use me for the cover. We just did it in one of their lounge rooms, it was a chill setup we had Frank Ocean playing in the background, and it only ran for about 45 minutes. Then we mocked up a few different versions, some were pretty weird like a psychedelic version and a double exposure version, but we ended up just going with the plain blue and yellow design. It’s a weird photo but they’re a weird band so it works. But yeah, it was a lot of fun shooting it because they had to balance on each others shoulders but they couldn’t hold the pose very long so we had to quickly take the photos before they fell over,” he laughs.
// Daniel Anderson
PVRIS // Daniel Anderson
Amidst all the joking though, we thought we’d get at least one serious question in: What is ‘photography’ to you?
“It’s my release from the world. We live in a pretty insane world at the moment. There’s soaring happiness and crushing sadness, all at the same time. When I’m behind the camera, I can forget about the entire world and the only thing that matters is the subject in front of me.”
Wise words. And for most of us, art is exactly that. An escape from the struggles of the world. Somewhere you’re safe, comfortable and accepted, no matter which art form you subscribe to.//
Bring Me The Horizon // Daniel Anderson
VIEW: Daniel’s work on Instagram @danielandersonphoto
Disclaimer: Daniel Anderson is a contributor to Hysteria Media.
