My name is Dan and I'm a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer based in New York City. If you’d like to hire me for cinematography across any genre, please don’t hesitate to reach out. My work has been featured on HBO, Netflix, The New York Times, and The Chicago Tribune among others.
Most recently, I was a cinematographer on HBO Documentary’s HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC. I’m also the co-director/director of photography/producer of a feature-length documentary called AND SO I STAYED, which premiered at the 2021 Brooklyn Film Festival.
(from left to right) Co-Director Natalie Pattillo, Kim Dadou Brown, Tanisha Davis, Michelle Horton, and Co-Director Daniel A. Nelson at the 2021 Brooklyn Film Festival. AND SO I STAYED won the Spirit Award and Audience Award for best documentary feature. (photo by Lou Aguilar)
Before that, I shot and did research on Oscar-nominated director David France’s documentary THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON about trans icon Marsha P. Johnson and her suspicious death in 1992.
Filming (left) on the set of THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON
I received my master's from Columbia Journalism School, where I teach part-time, focused on documentary filmmaking. My thesis was a documentary about competitive yoga called POSTURE. I did my bachelor's at San Francisco State University in journalism with a minor in economics.
I'm a recovering sportswriter and followed the San Francisco Giants in 2014 during their World Series run.
Interviewing Buster Posey inside the San Francisco Giants clubhouse
Let’s work together! Contact me through any of the icons listed at the bottom of the page. Tack.