Nick Brandt in Melbourne

[Joachim_I]

Thanks to a note by Chris in another thread, I discovered that there is currently a Nick Brandt exhibition in the Source Photographica Gallery in Brighton. It runs until 12th May 2010. I visited the exhibition yesterday. This is the best photography exhibition I have seen in quite a while. There are about 20-30 very large prints from the "A Shadow Falls" book on display. Highly recommended! Nick Brandt describes his technique in a (there was a url link here which no longer exists).

 

[Mick Fagan]

Joachim, many thanks for that, guess where I'm going on a Saturday morning, or maybe an evening after work.

I could pushbike down to Gardenvale from my place, didn't know that Gardenvale was now called Brighton!

Mick.

 

[Joachim_I]

Mick, enjoy the exhibition. Afterwards, you will start planning a visit to Africa. At least, that's what I did. You are right with Gardenvale, of course.

 

[Barrie B.]

Great Print Exhibition-Elsternwick /Brighton

Linda and I visted the gallery this morning ; we were blown away by the images, Pentax 67 I believe . Cheers Barrie B.

 

[joburger63]

Happy to hear you guys enjoyed it. I went to the opening and was very impressed by how striking and inspired Nick Brandt's work is when you are standing in front of a picture.
I'm aware of the debate raging around the internet arguing that Nick Brandt uses more Photoshop post processing than he's prepared to admit. Whatever the truth is, it cannot be denied that the pictures are in a league of their own. The compositions are stunning. From a fine art point of view, he's on to something and good luck to him.

I travel to Africa to take pictures every year, normally in October. I've always loved the work of Peter Beard and I suspect Nick Brant does also! I have attached one of my efforts in Zambia last October. Not exactly in Brandt's nor Beard's class I concede, but working on it! I'm even lugging a Pentax 27 over there when I return in September this year. Dead Link Removed

 

[Mick Fagan]

Well we couldn't wait any longer, we went after work this evening, pretty impressive.

The work stands alone, just like Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe and others in their chosen fields.

Anyone in Melbourne, or near to Melbourne, should really make a point of seeing this exhibition. There is a reasonable chance that nothing like this quality of work, will be here in the near future.

I believe he uses a Pentax 6x7 and the longest lens that he uses, is a 135mm, he must get mighty close because the out of focus parts tell me he is around 3-5 metres away from some of the meanest creatures on the planet. Plus the fella putting on the exhibition said so

Mick.

 

[Joachim_I]

Mick, I have the impression that the out-of-focus areas in Nick Brandt's pictures are often created by the home-made tilt adapter he describes in the thread I linked before. Therefore you cannot really judge the object distance from these areas.

The Pentax lenses are only corrected to cover 6x7. If he uses tilt, this must lead to some dark corners. I think you can detect these, for example in "Lion Before Storm II- Sitting Profile".

By the way, for those who want to know more about the images on display before they make up their mind to visit the exhibition, I found a Dead Link Removed, which more or less shows the pictures on display. But this is no substitute for seeing the large prints in person.

Chris, I am not sure you can upload images here.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

A photographer par excellence. Despite some reservations about digitally-enhanced/appended fine art works, I can safely put those concerns in the back seat after viewing this presentation.

The use of filter-boosted B&W as the medium to accentuate nuances and tone in often dramatic skies (notwithstanding his obvious additional tweaking in Photoshop) is well considered as a tool for this striking visual poetry. The placement of the animals is uplifting for its sheer scale of beauty and drama, no less concentrated by Brandt's deft application of tilt. I think colour for any of these scenes would have been too much of a distraction — unfulfilling and failing to proselytise pattern, tone and texture so often timelessly, faithfully reproduced in monochrome. Brandt's "in-your-face" style of documentary animal photography is high on emotive pathos, quite apart from the instant jolt of wonderment: the viewer is not just looking at a print, but being drawn into the landscape to eyeball the subjects and serene animals in their own world. I love all these expansive landscapes: dramatic and poised and speaking reams for his skill wielding a big camera at distances most native Guides in the Serangeti would immediately warn emphatically against (I know this from my niece who joined a 6-week Safari there in February). Looking at some of these prints a tingle went up my back that any moment now the elephant was going to come charging out of the frame into the gallery!

So good.

 

[joburger63]

You should have written the review in The Age Garyh! You've got a good style.
Joachim - it doesn't look like I can post photographs here, nevermind. The point I was trying to make was that you can often get increadibly close to wildlife in Africa. It really depends on where you are, the guide you have, if any at all, the rules and regulations in place, and the number of people who may, or may not be around. Last year I was shooting in Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. I hardly used telephoto lenses at all. I have full frame head portraits of lions and elephants and never used anything longer than 70mm and never had to crop. Scary? Once or twice over the years, I've had the odd scare, mostly with bull elephants, especially during the mating season but it's just a question of being hyper aware of your surroundings as well as keeping your eye in the view finder and not taking silly risks just to get a picture. Takes some practice! The fact that Brandt uses a 200mm as the longest lens in his inventory isn't news to me, I've seen guys lugging around massive lenses in incredible heat but I doubt they obtain more impressive results. I think Brandt's got the right idea. Less is more. I'll try to post a few pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about if I can figure out how.

 

[Joachim_I]

Christopher Rimmer exhibition

I post this here in the Nick Brandt thread because those interested in Nick Brandt also might be interested in the current exhibition of Melbourne-based photographer Christopher Rimmer at the "Without Pier Gallery" in Hampton. The gallery's home page can be found under http://www.withoutpier.com.au/index.php, Christoper's homepage under http://www.christopherrimmer.com. From what I have read elsewhere, I understand that Christopher's equipment include a Pentax 67. It seems the exhibition closes on 30 June, although other sources mention 9 July. I will be there on 30 June.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

We must go along and eyeball the Pentax 67!

 

[tomtraubert]

It's a pity that this thread is 2 years old. I'm sorry I missed NB in 2010, because whatever one thinks of his style (which I think is at least deserving respect), it must be a "different" experience seeing those photos in all their 1.5m-sized glory.

 

[bluedog]

Thanks for the heads up Joachim. I will try and make teh Christopher Rimmer exhibition.