Topic: Nick Brandt

[Nick Moys]

Just got the latest edition of Lenswork, which includes photos and an interview with Nick Brandt. Wildlife photography normally leaves me cold, but these are quite different - powerful stuff - and he still uses film.

[LT]

Yes - good isn't he?  I have his book On This Earth - very nice.  I believe he is a friend of fellow FW Susan Blurstine ...

He does still use film, but I believe he also does inordinate amounts Photoshop work after scanning - not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

L. 

[Karl]

He does still use film, but I believe he also does inordinate amounts Photoshop work after scanning - not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

L. 

Well I am glad to hear that. I have his book A Shadow Falls and I remember reading that he used film and a Pentax 67. I assumed his images were darkroom printed. They are very good but it's good to know that my darkroom learning mountain hasn't got any higher if you know what I mean.

[astrobeck]

hmmmm.....I saw him three years ago in Santa Fe and I could have sworn he told me he was making pigment prints...

One cool thing is, when I was staying at a hotel in Melbourne I saw one of his huge prints hanging in a meeting room.
It was stunning!

[Suzi Livingstone]

I love his book A Shadow Falls. Just beautiful images.

[LT]

hmmmm.....I saw him three years ago in Santa Fe and I could have sworn he told me he was making pigment prints...

Becky when you say "pigment" prints - do you mean pigmented inkjet inks - aka giclee, or pigmented gelatine print like Bromoil etc?

The new world of print making seems to use terms like pigment or carbon quite misleadingly I think - both of which are modern digi methods AND old alternative printing methods.

[Suzi Livingstone]

I think what I love about his wildlife images are that they are just so majestic and close up so you really feel you see the animal's personality and character. I love that his shots aren't typical wildlife shots of animals in motion, they're proper portraits. He donated a lot of work for the Big Life Foundation too.

[Suzi Livingstone]

Frm his wiki page:

Although he shoots on film, Brandt scans his negatives, and then dodges and burns the images in Photoshop. He doesn't add or clone animals - with great luck and patience, the scenes are as he saw them. Brandt's limited edition prints are of two kinds- archival pigment prints using a wide format inkjet printer, and large platinum/palladium prints using giant digitally created contact negatives. His large limited edition prints, up to 60”x80” (150x200cm) in size, have, as of November 2011, sold for up to $130,000.

[fox]

I got On This Earth in a charity shop for £2! What a bargain. Great series of photographs

[DonkeyDave]

I'd like to see a 60 inch platinum image, that would be a sight to behold. I can't begin to think how much a PITA that would be to make. I just sold a 100 inch image from a wide format printer, and just handling that was a nightmare - I can't imagine getting a 60 inch image, under a large UV light - vacuum press, getting a nice even sensitised surface etc - then getting it into dishes and drying, bonkers!

great images on his site