Anton Corbijn

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Anton Corbijn (pronounced [kɔrˈbɛin]) (born May 20, 1955) is a photographer from Strijen in the Netherlands. He is also well known for directing music videos, including Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" (1989) and Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" (1993).

He is widely acknowledged by the music industry, mainly for being the creative director of the visual output of prominent bands like U2 and Depeche Mode, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade.

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[edit] Career

Corbijn began taking photographs during a live concert in 1972. In 1979 he moved to London, England where he began to work with various rock bands such as Joy Division and Public Image Ltd. During this period Corbijn also began to take photographs for well known magazines such as Vogue and Rolling Stone Magazine.

After mastering photography Corbijn also decided to move into directing music videos.

In 1994, after directing various music videos, Corbijn directed a short film about Captain Beefheart for the BBC called "Some Yoyo Stuff".

Corbijn is due to direct the feature film Control: The Ian Curtis Film, about the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, in 2006. The film is based on Deborah Curtis's book Touching From A Distance about her late husband and the new bio Torn Apart by longtime Mancunians Lindsay Reade ( Tony Wilson's ex-wife) and Mick Middles.

In 2005, Palm Pictures released a DVD collection of Corbijn's music video output as part of the Director's Label series. As well as a 56-page booklet, the DVD also includes outtakes, shorts and documentaries as well as commentaries on various videos from the artists themselves.

[edit] Style

Corbijn tends to eschew traditional glamour photography, instead favoring a rawer look, often in black-and-white. His subjects appear to be calm and far removed from everyday life. His photographs show raw emotion. His patented and influential style of black and white imagery with stark contrasts on grainy film (sometimes referred to as "overcooked") has been imitated and copied in such extent that it has become a rock cliché and a vital part of the visual language in the 1990s. [citation needed]

[edit] Entertainers Corbijn has photographed

[edit] Music video filmography

[edit] Books by Corbijn

  • Famouz (1989)
  • Strangers (1990)
  • Allegro (1991)
  • Grönemeyer, Photographien von Anton Corbijn (1993)
  • Star Trak (1996)
  • 33 Still Lives (1999)
  • Stripping Girls (2000, with Marlene Dumas)
  • Werk (2000)
  • A. Somebody, Strijen, Holland (2002)
  • Everybody Hurts (2003)
  • U2 & I (2005)

[edit] External links