Nick Brandt

PHOTOGRAPHER #55.

Website: http://www.nickbrandt.com/
Contact: http://www.nickbrandt.com/Contact.cfm

Nick Brandt is a photographer who is well known for his way to interpret and portray nature. His beautiful environmental shots often depict subjects in relation to vast landscapes: An abandoned ostrich egg before an apparently endless mass of deserted, dry land; two giraffes, looking relatively tiny in comparison with the massive dust devil looming at the horizon.

Nick Brandt chooses to shoot in black and white, and this particular choice of his is very interesting and compelling, just because of its inner contradictions. The natural world is primarily striking for its stark colors. In an environment like the Savannah, colors are a true language; an essential part of the flora and fauna that populates the area, and as such, a vital element of what it is like to experience such things. In spite of this, Nick Brandt’s black and white shots can be extremely eloquent and lively. The images are full of energy and his photographs have a very distinctive quality to them, a perception of space that feels surreal, yet extremely realistic at the same time. 

What I like about the work of Nick Brandt is that the photographs have a very iconic feel. They read like statements. Brandt’s self-declared goal is to document African’s wildlife before it is completely obliterated by the greed of many. His famous photographs of the rangers holding dead elephant tusks are a great example of this.