To say Nick Brandt's photographs are poignant is an understatement. His compelling images of the wildlife of Africa are dramatic, endearing and engaging. And, when you look closer, heartbreaking.
Brandt uses these photographs as the basis of his work for his Big Life Foundation, a nonprofit organization he dedicates to the conservation effort he began in 2010.
"On this Earth, A Shadow Fall" marks the final installment of a trilogy of books he planned as a memorial to those animals lost to poachers. The compassion-stirring series is how he drums up financial support for the fight.
Brandt will be in Ketchum next week to talk about his foundation and share his recent work, including 15 of his large-scale photographs, which attendees will get an exclusive glimpse of at Gilman Contemporary sooner than their September national release.
Such intimate encounters are effective because when one sees his photographs, it's the back story that keeps people rapt, and then offering support, for the foundation.
On the Big Life Foundation website, a field report illustrates how his effort operates and how much of an impact it has already had.
Using the Amboseli ecosystem—which straddles both Kenya and Tanzania—as a large-scale pilot project, the foundation established fully equipped teams of anti-poaching rangers in newly-built outposts throughout the 2 million acre-plus area.
"As of April 2011, within just six months of inception, this new level of coordinated protection for the ecosystem has already elicited a major reduction in poaching in the region," he reported. "A number of significant arrests of some of the worst, most prolific long-term poachers in the region have at long last been engineered by Big Life's teams."
Still, poaching continues unabated in the areas not yet reached by Big Life, which is what pushes Brandt.
"We have a long way to go to achieve our goal of stable and sustainable operations long term. As the illegal demand for ivory, rhino horn and other wildlife parts continues to grow, there will be many who cannot resist the easy profits to be made out of killing these irreplaceable creatures."
Before Big Life, Brandt studied painting and film. He moved to America in 1992 and directed many award-winning music videos for artists like Michael Jackson, Jewel and Moby. It was while directing Jackson's video "Earth Song" in Tanzania in 1995 that he fell in love with the animals and land of East Africa. Over the next few years, frustrated that he could not capture on film his feelings about animals, he changed his form of expression to photography. "On This Earth" and "A Shadow Falls" were published when he decided to start the foundation with plans on using the trilogy to fund it.
The Englishman will have his latest book for sale with proceeds going to the foundation at the talk.
Jennifer Liebrum jliebrum@mtexpress.com
Nick Brandt, “Elephant Drinking, Amboseli, 2007”, archival pigment ink print. Killed by poachers in 2009.
Courtesy photo
