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Author Topic: Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls  (Read 16208 times)

Josh-H

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« on: May 06, 2010, 12:29:11 am »

I dont know how many of the regular readers here are familiar with the African wildlife work of Nick Brandt - but I just came from seeing his current exhibition entitled 'A Shadow Falls' - consisting of approx. 40 B&W toned prints on Hahenumuhle watercolor paper - pigment on paper prints from an Epson printer. His work has been previously featured in Lenswork (but I forget which issue).

The prints were and are stunning - truly lovely to behold. If you have the opportunity to attend any of his exhibitions or get a copy of one of his limited edition books I would highly recommend it. (oh.. and bring your Platinum Card - Prints start from a few thousand dollars for something in the order of 17x20 and quickly heads north toping out somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn at $140,000.00 for the largest works (approx. 6+ foot wide prints).) I would say average price per print was $40,000.00. Those familiar with Nicks work would be well aware that his prints are regularly selling for these prices. I guess that is a testament to the quality of his work and his collectibility - unfortunately it will price out many would be owners.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2010, 12:31:14 am by Josh-H »
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EduPerez

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« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2010, 03:20:07 am »

Amazing images, I would love to see the prints.

Thanks for bringing this back to me, by the way: I once ended in his web page, but somehow managed to lost the link...
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Jeremy Roussak

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« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2010, 03:38:14 am »

Josh,

Thanks for the link. He has some absolutely astonishing work on his web site. I don't know whether to feel inspired or to despair!

Jeremy
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Rob C

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2010, 03:55:38 am »

Thanks for the link.

One of those times when I don't know whether to simply accept it all and feel 'stunning!' or get cynical and say 'just worked up for the ad agency/bank  wall'.

Whichever way, the guy knows how to do it, if he does it personally - and probably no model fees to pay either, beyond a hunk of meat off the back of the truck, at best. (That's a joke, believe it or not.)

Either way - fantastic!

Thanks again - more for the overladen Favourites.

Rob C

Josh-H

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2010, 05:45:15 am »

A little bit more info:

I am told by the exhibition curator that all of the work is shot medium format on a Pentax, scanned and then dodged and burned in photoshop - a pretty standard medium format set-up. Longest lens used is 100mm.

Anyone interested in Melbourne Australia in attending the exhibition (and I highly recommend you do) should contact Source Photographica - www.sourcephotographica.com.au. The exhibition is only on for a very limited period of time and entry is free (as is the catalogue which features all of the works). I am going back tomorrow to spend another hour or so enjoying the prints.

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Rob C

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2010, 06:05:09 am »

Quote from: Josh-H
A little bit more info:

I am told by the exhibition curator that all of the work is shot medium format on a Pentax, scanned and then dodged and burned in photoshop - a pretty standard medium format set-up. Longest lens used is 100mm.

Anyone interested in Melbourne Australia in attending the exhibition (and I highly recommend you do) should contact Source Photographica - www.sourcephotographica.com.au. The exhibition is only on for a very limited period of time and entry is free (as is the catalogue which features all of the works). I am going back tomorrow to spend another hour or so enjoying the prints.



I obviously can't know, but I find a 100mm (standard length) on a Pentax 67 doesn't seem to match the perspective I'd expect on the closeups; unbelievable or, alternatively, suicidal. With buffs? Bull elephants? Even Hemingway would have blanched.

Rob C

EduPerez

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2010, 06:33:51 am »

There is a post from Nick Brandt himself at photo.net explaining his technique: http://photo.net/medium-format-photography-forum/00ERse.
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Josh-H

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2010, 06:40:27 am »

Quote from: EduPerez
There is a post from Nick Brandt himself at photo.net explaining his technique: http://photo.net/medium-format-photography-forum/00ERse.

And the relevent bit cut and snip

Quote
Firstly, 90% of my photos are taken from the safety of a vehicle. Only the chimps and one special herd of giraffes are photographed on foot. Neither I nor anyone else could ever get this close to wild animals any other way. Forget about safety - most of the animals would run away (and a few would attack).

Secondly, the depth of field issue. I'll say it categorically - NONE of the depth of field thing is done in Photoshop - it is all done in camera. You could not get those focal planes shifting in focus in the same plane in the way that they do in Photoshop and expect it to look like this. Don Satalic is soooo wrong. Oh, and I don't use soft focus lenses. Don't even know what they are. The longest lens I own and use is a 200mm. Great lens. Tried the 300 once and hated it. Too conventional. So yes, I am close, but safe.

All anyone really needs to know is that I work in a very very impractical way - very manually - and lose a crazy number of potentially great shots with all the faffing around I do. But I do it because occasionally something great comes out of such impractical methods. My friend Rocky Schenck taught me not to reveal my trade secrets some time ago. As for my EX-SF dealer's comments, I don't know where that came from.

Grading - I nearly always use a heavy ND grad for the sky, and often a red filter, to get the sky dark. But there is significant grading done in Photoshop - the vignetting is invariably photoshop - I'm a sucker for it.
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usathyan

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2010, 09:35:09 am »

Quote from: Josh-H
I dont know how many of the regular readers here are familiar with the African wildlife work of Nick Brandt - but I just came from seeing his current exhibition entitled 'A Shadow Falls' - consisting of approx. 40 B&W toned prints on Hahenumuhle watercolor paper - pigment on paper prints from an Epson printer. His work has been previously featured in Lenswork (but I forget which issue).

The prints were and are stunning - truly lovely to behold. If you have the opportunity to attend any of his exhibitions or get a copy of one of his limited edition books I would highly recommend it. (oh.. and bring your Platinum Card - Prints start from a few thousand dollars for something in the order of 17x20 and quickly heads north toping out somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn at $140,000.00 for the largest works (approx. 6+ foot wide prints).) I would say average price per print was $40,000.00. Those familiar with Nicks work would be well aware that his prints are regularly selling for these prices. I guess that is a testament to the quality of his work and his collectibility - unfortunately it will price out many would be owners.

I saw his exhibit last year in New Mexico....It is stunning. His book was actually on sale in B&N for $36 - thats quite a steal actually. Unfortunately - they are out of stock everywhere....
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JeffKohn

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2010, 12:27:21 pm »

I have one of his books, the other seems to be out of print (last time I checked, anyway). Really great stuff. It would be a real treat to see large prints in person.
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bill t.

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2010, 02:40:18 pm »

Yes, a very striking quality to those images.  In trying to figure out what it was, it occurred to me that a lot of those remind me of the old fashioned dioramas at science & history museums, which are sort of the Platonic prototypes of that kind of imagery. Such iconic imagery fires a lot of memory circuits in the old brain.  The evocation of basic concepts already in our heads is one of the qualities that adds up to a "stunning" image.

What size are his editions?
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Josh-H

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2010, 06:17:12 pm »

Quote
What size are his editions?

They start at around 17" x20" and go up to around 40" x 80" depending on the print and crop.
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feppe

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2010, 06:34:47 pm »

Holy mother of...

He must have a very nice camera.

edit: he has an upcoming exhibition in Munich, less than a 1000km away - looks like a road trip.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2010, 06:42:18 pm by feppe »
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bill t.

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2010, 06:47:58 pm »

Sorry, I meant what are the edition counts, 1/100, 1/8, 1/1, etc.  For $140,000 I think I'd want to buy into a very limited edition.

Anybody ready to spend that amount please carefully note that you could buy well over 100 of my pieces for that money, which could make you a zillionaire when my stuff starts showing up at Sotheby's.
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Josh-H

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« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2010, 07:38:54 pm »

Quote from: bill t.
Sorry, I meant what are the edition counts, 1/100, 1/8, 1/1, etc.  For $140,000 I think I'd want to buy into a very limited edition.

Anybody ready to spend that amount please carefully note that you could buy well over 100 of my pieces for that money, which could make you a zillionaire when my stuff starts showing up at Sotheby's.

Heh.. yes it does take a while to get over the sticker shock....Put me in the camp of being able to buy just a few of my prints (and then a car) for this sort of coin....  

As to editions - the larger prints are all 1/8 - with the 8th apparently being kept by Nick and never being sold (so its really 1/7 with the existence of an 8th).
The smaller prints are 1/24.
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Justan

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #15 on: May 07, 2010, 08:27:30 am »

Whoa that is some beautiful work!

Rob C

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #16 on: May 07, 2010, 08:52:05 am »

Quote from: Justan
Whoa that is some beautiful work!



On both counts!

Rob C

OnyimBob

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2010, 07:05:28 pm »

I arrived home 4 hours east of Melbourne on Friday only to read this post - so on Sunday evening I drove back to Melbourne!
And on Monday I spent an hour or so in heaven with Nick Brandt's images!
I had seen them all on his web site so I knew they were special but that did not prepare me.
The man has a vision that he succeeds absolutely in sharing with the viewer - what a gift! I was spellbound.
Wherever you are, if the opportunity arises, go and see these images - you will not be disappointed.
Thanks Josh for alerting me to the existence of this exhibition, it was worth the 8 hour round trip!
Bob.
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dwood

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2010, 09:19:39 pm »

Thanks for that link, Josh. Mr. Brandt's work is inspiring.

DavidMG

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Nick Brandt - A Shadow Falls
« Reply #19 on: July 29, 2010, 06:04:07 pm »

Quote from: feppe
Holy mother of...

He must have a very nice camera.

Pentax 67II

and yes I've had the joy of experiencing these prints in person. WOW!! is my professional opinion ... lol ..
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