Award-winning photographer and filmmaker, David Goldman
David Goldman doesn’t romanticise photography. He doesn’t talk about “capturing souls” or chasing perfect moments. In fact, the way he speaks about the medium is surprisingly grounded for someone who has spent decades photographing everyone from musicians and public figures to people living through circumstances most of us will never experience.
For David, it always comes back to connection.
That idea surfaced early. Growing up in Toronto, he remembers taking photographs on a school trip to Quebec in fifth grade and feeling, even then, that the images somehow worked. But photography didn’t fully click until later. After travelling through Europe, working on a kibbutz in Israel, and taking a photography class there at 19, something shifted.
“That’s when I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
Interestingly, he didn’t arrive through the traditional “fine art photographer” route. His early experiences sat somewhere between fashion and photojournalism, and that duality still exists in his work today. There’s a strong visual sensibility running through his photographs, but also a very human instinct underneath them.
There was also a moment that helped crystallise things for him creatively. Visiting London’s National Portrait Gallery, he found himself standing in front of works that deeply resonated.
“I remember thinking, for the first time, this is where I belong.”
A lot of David’s work comes down to trust. Whether he’s photographing musicians, public figures, or people living through difficult circumstances, his approach remains remarkably consistent.
Hamar Tribeswoman, Ethiopia
“There’s a unique moment shared between a subject and a photographer if both people are fully engaged,” he says. “It’s a moment of vulnerability and openness.”
That mindset explains why his portraits often feel intimate without becoming intrusive. There’s restraint in them. Patience. He doesn’t show up “guns blazing,” as he puts it. He researches. He listens. He looks for points of connection before ever raising the camera.
“The more we can relate to each other, the more relaxed and open the subject becomes, and that openness comes through in the image.”
And despite spending years around well-known personalities, he says he’s never really been starstruck.
David Goldman was behind one of pop punk’s most recognisable images: the cover of Blink-182’s Enema of the State (1999).
“At the end of the day, we all struggle, strive, and have both good and bad days. I try to see people simply as people.”
That ability to cut through persona without flattening individuality has become one of the defining qualities of his work. It’s also part of what makes his recent Mirror Mirror series with Jamie Nelson so compelling. Jamie herself exists as both photographer and carefully constructed persona, and David’s images sit in that interesting space between observation and interpretation.
Inside "Mirror Mirror", David Goldman’s cinematic portrait series with Jamie Nelson
Long before "Mirror Mirror", though, David was learning photography the old-school way: sweeping studio floors, working in darkrooms, assisting established photographers, and slowly building a life around the camera. Ask him what has remained from those early years and the answer isn’t technical.
“More than anything, it’s an awareness of how lucky I am to do this for a living.”
That gratitude still shapes how he works today. Photography, for him, isn’t really about status or spectacle. In fact, he admits he struggled with the word “artist” for years.
“I couldn’t relate to it,” he says. “It felt reserved for people who created something from nothing, like painters or sculptors.”
Over time though, his perspective shifted.
“I’ve come to realize that art isn’t just about what you produce; it’s about the compulsion to create.”
That compulsion continues to pull him toward stories that resonate on a human level, whether through editorial work, portraiture, or long-term documentary projects centred on human rights and marginalised communities.
One photograph in particular still stays with him: an image of three siblings from a de-notified tribe in India, living in extreme poverty.
“But they looked like little rock stars,” he says. “Proud and defiant.”
“Proud and defiant.” - David Goldman
That combination of dignity, humanity, and visual instinct runs through much of what David creates. The photographs don’t scream for attention. They hold it more quietly than that.
And perhaps that’s what makes them linger.
David Goldman’s "Mirror Mirror" series is coming soon to Addicted Art Gallery.
Want a first look at "Mirror Mirror?"
If you’d like to receive a preview catalogue ahead of the release, contact blair@addictedgallery.com or elena@addictedgallery.com