Travelling the world with a guitar in one hand and a camera in the other.

Considering that, in a COVID-19-less world, we’d have just watched his band Yeah Yeah Yeahs play at Splendour In The Grass, it seems only fitting that we delve into the photography of Nick Zinner today. Naturally, having spent plenty of time on the road over the past couple of decades, his body of work features plenty of moments in transit and glimpses of foreign cultures with the human experience running through it thematically.

Prior to his musical career, Zinner studied photography at the famous liberal arts school, Bard College in New York, and has treated photography as a kind of pictorial diary ever since. “Just having a visual record of the majority of my life that I can instantly pull up,” he says when reflecting on the personal value of his work.

In a way, Zinner’s portfolio is quite contradictory: his band sings about a date with the night, celebrating after-hours debauchery through the lens of young adulthood, whilst he explores the same life after dark with a certain nuance. He offers an artful touch to moments of chaos, drawing us right in and leaving us feeling like we’ve just witnessed the spasms of human performance first hand.

Other than shooting his band on their countless tours, he also uses photography to document his life through sheer repetition. “I also have shot every crowd we’ve played to, and more obsessive subjects like every bed I’ve slept in for the last 20 years. Aside from that, it’s just small moments wherever I get to see them,” he says.

With no word on whether Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be on board for SITG 2021, this Frames might be the closest you get to them for a while… Check out a selection of the great Nick Zinner’s snaps below and head here to follow him on Instagram:

Austin TX, 2003.