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Nadav’s portrait portfolio “Obama’s People,” commissioned by Kathy Ryan for The New York Times Magazine and later published in Stern, has been awarded a commendation in the Portrait of the Year category in Germany’s Lead Awards. He is one of nine photographers to be selected for the Portrait shortlist; at a ceremony on March 25, this list will be narrowed to three winners. Congratulations, Nadav!
I emailed Donald Schneider, Stern‘s art director, to ask about his decision to publish the portfolio, and here’s what he said:
“Nadav’s ‘Obama’s People’ portraits in the New York Times Magazine were so stunning that we immediately decided to publish them in Stern and even made an exception from our ‘publishing self-produced photo stories only’ policy,” Donald explained. “We kept the layout very simple in order to give maximum impact to these ‘shockingly normal’ portraits of people who are the new inner circle of the world’s most powerful government.”
The Lead Awards site is in German, so I won’t be quoting from it, but I can tell you that in Germany, these awards are considered the print equivalent of the Oscars. Past honorees include Peter Lindbergh, William Eggleston, Rineke Dijkstra, and Andreas Gursky. Also worth noting: Unlike most awards, one cannot enter this competition; the Lead Academy board chooses the nominees itself after reviewing hundreds of magazines published, in this case, in 2009.
The ceremony on March 25 will hosted by the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, where there will also be a major exhibition—called “Visual Leder 2010″—from March 12 to April 11.
Here’s how “Obama’s People” looked in Stern (and kind thanks to Svenja Thies of Stern‘s art department for sending me these tearsheets):
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