20 minute clipping

Although I worked for a monthly music paper through college, I really built my initial portfolio through the opportunities afforded by Toronto music bookers and agents. They generosity introduced me to a wide range of indie rock icons of the mid-80s like Johnny Thunders, Mark Smith of The Fall, Hüsker Dü, and more.

Doing this quick shoot with clipping weirdly took me back. But I do wonder, is this good?

Those early sittings were formative in helping me deal with stressful situations, and I made a handful of good pictures, but very few that hold up to my portrait work now. I worry by doing these quickie band photos at a venue, I am regressing to fan photographer status.

“clipping” is a contemporary American music group, with industrial dance sounds, and rapper Daveed Diggs, slaying the words over top. I reached out to them over Instagram DM (with encouragement from colleague and friend Nick Fancher), and miraculously they agreed to a quick photo shoot after their soundcheck at a recent Brooklyn show.

The groups aesthetic is dark, with loads of tracks about death and murder, yet somehow I ended up with a fun playful picture of them. It seems that I can try to get away from my style, but I always end up at me.


Images: “clipping” photographed at Elsewhere club, Brooklyn NY, August 14, 2025. Thank you to Sophia Pallwein-Prettner for the onset assistance.