Jeff Daniels

Monday March 14th, 2011

Though in the popular mind Jeff Daniels brings us memories of ribald antics with Jim Carrey and heroic struggles against a villainous Dennis Hopper, to guitar enthusiasts this actor is known as a collector of fine guitars, and as an excellent folk singer and guitarist.

Detroit photographer Brian Kelly had the opportunity to explore Daniels’s guitar work, with a great shot appearing on the cover.

I asked Brian to tell me about how he got this opportunity:

Last July I got a call from Jimmy Hubbard, editor of Guitar Aficionado and Guitar World magazines. He found my web site via Wonderful Machine when looking for a Michigan based photographer to shoot a feature story on actor Jeff Daniels and his considerable guitar collection for Guitar Aficionado. Jeff Daniels lives in Chelsea, Michigan which about an hour outside of Detroit and two hours from my base in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The shoot went great. Jeff Daniels was a pleasure to work with. He just picked away on his guitars telling me stories while we shot him at his fantastic lakefront home. Originally the story was slated for a smaller feature… but Jimmy ended up holding the story back until they could run it as a cover story.

This was also an opportunity for Brian to expand the scope of his photography. “I’ve shot portraits and album art directly for several singer/songwriters around where I live, as well as for editorial features around Michigan. But the music industry isn’t a prime area of focus for my business per se,” he said. “In this case, I think Guitar Aficionado was looking for a good environmental portraitist for the shoot with Jeff Daniels… and I was lucky to get the call after they looked at my web site via WM.”

Learn more about Jeff Daniels on his website, and check out Brian’s site for a fascinating gallery of outtakes from the shoot.

-Asad