#55 - Nadav Kander: The electricity between two pictures
My guest today grew up in Johannesburg and has lived and worked in London since the 1980s. He started photographing at thirteen and learned part of the craft in the darkroom of the South African Air Force. He won the Prix Pictet in 2009 for Yangtze: The Long River, and that same year The New York Times Magazine dedicated an entire issue to his series Obama's People. In 2019, Steidl published The Meeting, his first book devoted entirely to portraiture. This September, a new exhibition called The Edge of Things opens at FOAM in Amsterdam. We recorded this conversation in his home on Ibiza, and it took a direction I hadn't expected. Nadav Kander talks about the years he spent going back through his archive with curator David Campany, and what it means to let images from different decades speak to each other rather than treating each project as a closed chapter. He explains why he never sets out to tell a story, he makes one, and why a picture is only ever completed once a viewer brings their own history to it. What you'll learn in this episode Why Nadav spent the last few years revisiting his entire archive with David Campany, and what he found there that he had missed twenty years earlier Why he says "I don't tell stories, I make stories," and what that means for how he shows his work What eight minutes with President Obama actually looks like when three hours of preparation come before it Why stillness and a kind of quiet tension are what make a photograph work for him What a childhood memory of being afraid of dark water has to do with his Color Fields work today How his wife Nicole's focus on climate science is starting to press on what he photographs next, and why he's struggling to bring that into his work without turning it into documentary We also hear about his upcoming trips to Greenland and back to the South Africa he grew up in. About Nadav Kander Nadav Kander (born 1961, Tel Aviv) is a photographer based in London since the 1980s. He won the Prix Pictet in 2009 for Yangtze: The Long River, and his portraits of Barack Obama's first administration were the subject of a dedicated New York Times Magazine issue. His first book of portraiture, The Meeting, was published by Steidl in 2019. His work sits between the visible and the invisible, presence and disappearance. Links and resources Nadav Kander's website The Edge of Things, FOAM Amsterdam, opening 18 September through February, info The Edge of Things (book, Thames & Hudson) Dark Line: The Thames Estuary (book, Ghost) This summer: The Daily Frame Growth matters for you too, so this summer I've put together The Daily Frame, a series of short audio clips, up to 15 minutes, sent to you every workday for four weeks, with tips on creativity, mindset and business. Listen from your beach chair or on a walk and stay in your flow all summer long. It's 10 euros, so don't let the price hold you back. Register here. Free webinar: The 5 things top photographers constantly do to grow Want to know the real patterns behind how top photographers create, showcase and sustain their projects? Join my free 120-minute live webinar, where I share the recurring patterns top photographers worldwide use to stay confident, focused, unique and visible, drawn from hundreds of interviews, mentoring sessions and international experience. Reserve your spot
