Black And White Wildlife Photography By Nick Brandt

His photography bears little relation to the colour documentary-style wildlife photography that is the norm. He photographs on medium format black and white film without telephoto or zoom lenses (He uses a Pentax 67II with only two fixed lenses). His work is a combination of epic panoramas of animals within dramatic landscapes (for example, Hippos on the Mara River, Masai Mara, 2006; Cheetah & Cubs Lying on Rock, Serengeti 2007), and graphic portraits more akin to studio portraiture of human subjects from the early 20th Century, as if these animals were already long dead, from a bygone era (Elephant Drinking, Amboseli, 2007)
Brandt does not use telephoto lenses because he wants to see the animals in their natural habitat because he believes that being close to the animals make a huge difference in his ability to reveal their personality. He writes: "You wouldn't take a portrait of a human being from a hundred feet away and expect to capture their spirit; you'd move in close."
As American photography critic Vicki Goldberg writes: "Many pictures convey a rare sense of intimacy, as if Brandt knew the animals, had invited them to sit for his camera, and had a prime portraitist's intuition of character...as elegant as any arranged by Arnold Newman for his human high achievers". Photographs like (Cheetah & Cubs, Masai Mara, 2003; Lion Before Storm - Sitting Profile,Masai Mara 2006) are good examples of this.