Nick Brandt
Nick Brandt (* 1966 in London ) is a British photographer. He became known for his large-format animal photos of the African animal world. Brandt is the founder of the Big Life Foundation for the conservation of wildlife and the ecosystem of Africa. He now lives in Topanga , California.
Life
Brandt studied film art and painting at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. After moving to California in 1992, he initially worked primarily on films and music videos. Enthusiastic about the African animal world during the filming of the music video for Michael Jackson's Earth Song in 1995 in Tanzania , he became increasingly concerned with the African animal world and began to capture it photographically. From 2000 onwards, several illustrated books appeared, and his works were shown in solo exhibitions in renowned galleries around the world. In September 2010, he set up a non-profit foundation called the Big Life Foundation to protect Africa's wildlife and ecosystem .
art
Even if he is repeatedly referred to as a nature photographer, he prefers to refer to himself as a portrait photographer. He tries to always take his pictures as close as possible to the subject instead of using telephoto lenses.
“I am convinced that as a photographer you can capture the personality of an animal in a completely different way if you get very close to the animals. It would never occur to anyone to portray a person from a distance of thirty meters and capture the personality of this person. "
In addition, his panorama shots have also become known. Brandt creates an impact not only through the size of his pictures, but also through the differentiated elaboration in black and white . In exhibitions he shows the photographs taken in medium format in a very large format, often in a slightly sepia color tint. As a result, his pictures often appear as if they came from a bygone era. Brandt wants to reproduce “the unfortunate reality and the precarious living situation of animals”.
Brandt's photographs of calcified animals from Lake Natron attracted international attention in 2013 .
Brandt presents his works in the trilogy On this Earth (2005), A Shadow Falls (2009) and Across Ravaged Land (2011), which are available in large-format, lavishly printed books. He developed further series with Inherit the Dust in 2016 and This Empty World in 2018 . In the latter project, he uses color for the first time and, through montage, emphatically focuses on the ongoing destruction of the natural habitat of Africa's fauna.
Exhibitions
- 2016 Town House Ulm (2016)
- 2012 Gallery Hasted Kraeutler, New York
- 2011 Fotografiska , Stockholm, Sweden
- 2011 Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach , USA
- 2011 Iris Gallery, Boston , USA
- 2009 Shapiro Gallery, Sydney , Australia
- 2009 CameraWork Gallery, Berlin
Book publications
- Shadows over the wilderness . Munich, Knesebeck 2009, ISBN 978-3-86873-134-7 (A Shadow Falls, 31x39 cm)
- Across desert land. Munich , Knesebeck 2013, ISBN 978-3-86873-663-2 (Across Ravaged Land, 34x39 cm)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Nick Brandt - biography. artnet, accessed August 2, 2016 .
- ↑ a b quoted from Michelle Marie Roy, curator Fotografiska in the exhibition catalog for Nick Brandt: On This Earth, A Shadow Falls Across The Ravaged Land
- ↑ Unusual Pictures: "Calcified" Birds, Bats Found at African Lake . National Geographic , October 5, 2012
- ↑ Natronsee turns birds into pillars of salt . Die Welt, October 8, 2013
- ^ This Alkaline African Lake Turns Animals into Stone . Smithonian Magazine , October 2, 2013
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brandt, Nick |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1966 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |