Stockland Martel » Yangtze

Nadav Kander photos in “Coal + Ice” exhibition and at Paris Photo

Kristina Feliciano — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:38:11 +0000

This photo by Nadav Kander, from his award-winning personal project "Yangtze - The Long River," is on view in the exhibition "Coal + Ice" in Beijing.

The Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing is currently hosting “Coal + Ice,” an exhibition that “seeks to do something unprecedented: to chart the horrific grandeur of our effects on the planet, from the coal mines beneath our feet to the dwindling glaciers on our highest mountains,” to quote Evan Osnos of The New Yorker‘s Photo Booth blog. The show, curated by Jeroen de Vries and Susan Meiselas, features work by 30 photographers, including Nadav Kander, and is on view through November 28. For more details, and to watch a behind-the-scenes video, go here: http://sites.asiasociety.org/coalandice/.

"Swimmers," 2011, by Nadav Kander. Chromogenic print, 48 x 58 inches.

If you’re lucky enough to be at Paris Photo, stop by the Flowers stand (D54). As La Lettre de la Photographie notes, Angela Flowers is showing work by Edward Burtynsky, Michael Wolf, Mona Kuhn, and Nadav (including the above photograph).

Communication Arts releases its 2011 Photography Annual

Kristina Feliciano — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:00:17 +0000

The competition was intense for Communication Arts‘ 2011 Photography Annual, with more than 5,000 entries vying for the approbation of the five-member jury. Among the 166 winners were three of our photographers: Nadav Kander, Art Streiber, and Liz Von Hoene, whose winning images are posted below. (Full gallery here.) We congratulate them and all of the photogs included in this important volume.

From the series "Yangtze: The Long River." Photo by Nadav Kander.

Conan O'Brien. Photo by Art Streiber.

Justin Bieber. Photo by Art Streiber.

Photo by Liz Von Hoene for Rebecca Moses.

• Video: Art Streiber and Conan O’Brien (and the owl!)

• New work: Liz Von Hoene’s playful Rebecca Moses campaign flirts with shadows

• Video interview: Nadav Kander on his series “Yangtze: The Long River”

International Photography Awards winners announced

Kristina Feliciano — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:53:10 +0000

.The jurors of the 2011 International Photography Awards have named their selections for subcategory and category winners, and we’re ecstatic that Kwaku Alston, Matthias Clamer, Nadav Kander, and John Offenbach are among their favorites. Our congratulations to them and to their fellow winners. Well done!

“Category winners,” the IPA’s site explains, “will move on as finalists competing for the Photographer of the Year (professional) and the Discovery of the Year (emerging) titles, as well as that of Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year.” Those winners will be announced at the Lucie Awards on October 24 at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Till then, here’s a look at the winning entries from our photographers. For the full winners’ gallery, go here.

Entry Title: " Volkslivin." Name: Kwaku Alston, United States. Category: Professional, Other_S, 2nd place.

Entry Title: "Rufus Wainright." Name: Matthias Clamer, United States. Category: Professional, Personality, 3rd place.

Entry Title: "Pet Circus." Name: Matthias Clamer, United States. Category: Professional, Portrait_P, 3rd place.

Entry Title: "Yangtze - The Long River." Name: Nadav Kander, United Kingdom. Category: Professional, Fine Art, 1st place.

Entry Title: "Jean Rochefort." Name: Nadav Kander, United Kingdom. Category: Professional, Personality, 1st place.

Entry Title: “Werner Herzog III.”  Name: Nadav Kander, United Kingdom.  Category: Professional, Personality, 2nd place.

Entry Title: " London Eye Pod 2" Name: John Offenbach, Category: Professional, Other_ARC, 3rd place.

A look at PDN’s Photo Annual 2011

Kristina Feliciano — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:48:27 +0000

PDN's Photo Annual 2011.

PDN‘s Photo Annual 2011 is finally out, a hefty 200-page June issue featuring the best in advertising, magazine/editorial, photojournalism/sports/documentary, video, and more, as judged by a select group of creative directors, photo editors, curators, and editors.

Stockland Martel‘s Craig Cutler, Lauren Greenfield, Nadav Kander, Doug Menuez, John Offenbach, and Art Streiber are among the talented photographers whose work is honored.

Additionally, our SMart Book 2011 is featured in the corporate design/photo products category.

Here’s a closer look at our honorees:

Photo by Craig Cutler.

Photographer: Craig Cutler

Category: Advertising

Agency: Ogilvy

Creative directors: Michael Paterson and Jeff Curry

Art director: Gina Whitt

Client: IBM

A still from "Fashion Show," by Lauren Greenfield.

Photographer: Lauren Greenfield

Category: Video

Publication: New York

Producer: Frank Evers/Evergreen Pictures

Editor: Catherine Bull

Composer: Fol Chen

Photo by Nadav Kander.

Photographer: Nadav Kander

Category: Advertising

Agency: BBH London

Creative directors: Alex Grieve and Adrian Rossi

Art buyer: Sarah Pascoe

Client: St John Ambulance

"Yangtze—The Long River," by Nadav Kander.

Photographer: Nadav Kander

Category: Photo Books

Text: John-Paul Tchang and Kofi A. Annan

Design: Tappin Gofton

Publisher: Hatje Cantz

Photo by Doug Menuez.

Photographer: Doug Menuez

Category: Advertising

Agency: BBDO

Art director: Luis Pena

Art buyer: Betsy Jablow

Client: GE

Photo by John Offenbach.

Photographer: John Offenbach

Category: Advertising

Agency: Fallon Minneapolis

Creative directors: Han Lin

Art buyer: Kerri Jamison

Copywriter: Ryan Peck

Client: Travelers

Justin Bieber. Photo by Art Streiber.

Photographer: Art Streiber

Category: Magazine/Editorial

Publication: Vanity Fair

Photography director: Susan White

Photo editor: Sasha Erwitt

Design director: David Harris

Ryan Gosling. Photo by Art Streiber.

Photographer: Art Streiber

Category: Magazine/Editorial

Publication: New York

Photo editor: Lea Golis

Design director: Chris Dixon

Joerg Colberg interviews Nadav Kander

Kristina Feliciano — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:17:32 +0000

Joerg Colberg, who writes the blog Conscientious, recently interviewed Nadav Kander about his Prix Pictet–winning Yangtze project, a conversation that led the two into a discussion on the nuances that distinguish documentary work from art and the affinity between Nadav’s portraiture and his landscapes. Here’s an excerpt:

JC: If a lot of the Chinese people didn’t really understand why you were taking those photographs in some ways it’s similar to people complaining that a lot of contemporary photography is “boring.” A lot of people in the West also love photographs of sunsets and something that’s beautiful, the beautiful landscape photograph. For you, when you see a picture or a scene that you want to take a photograph of – what is the appeal of that which you see? If somebody came up to you and said “why is this photo not boring? Can you explain this?” what would you say?

NK: I think it’s a universal Western truth that we have a real problem thinking any lower than our head into how we feel about things. I think when we are always trying to make our brain do the work and separate a picture into why I like it or why I don’t and what are the reasons for it, it’s often as simple as that it touches me in an emotional place, in a place inside me that responds to this for whatever reason. Maybe the way I was brought up, maybe the way my parents were brought up. Who knows how far these things go? We all have a problem in knowing that.

“I photograph everyday situations that compositionally attract me in a very beautiful way.” —Nadav Kander

Good art works on that level very, very well. Think of Rothko as an excellent example. There’s almost no information on the canvas, and people can sit in front of them for hours, with very, very strong feelings. So composition in itself and weight of composition and colour can give you very strong connections to you and your past. I think that probably explains it.

But I would say to people, if I was going to simplify it, that I photograph everyday situations that compositionally attract me in a very beautiful way. What’s probably more succinct is what is boring is something that is just beautiful. Beauty, like yellow or red or boy or girl, is just a word.

You’ll find the complete interview here.

Why you should check out the blog La Lettre de la Photographie

Kristina Feliciano — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:20:40 +0000

Have you seen the photo blog La Lettre de la Photographie? It presents photo news, interviews, and reviews and has a worldwide focus. You can watch a video portrait of Olga Sviblova, “the mother, the godmother of Russian photography,” who has just opened a photography museum; read a review of Karine Laval‘s exhibition of swimming-pool photos, “Mise en abyme”; view a portfolio of Frank Rothe‘s German gun photos; and learn that Elisabeth Biondi, the venerable New Yorker photo director, is leaving the magazine (!).

Today, there’s an interview by journalist and curator Thomas Erber with Nadav Kander. “Right from the start my photography had a sense of unease but also simplicity. Even my first pictures, which I made at 13, had the 48 year old in them,” Nadav tells Erber.

Recently, former American Photo editor David Schonauer, who writes the blog I Like to Watch, became a regular contributor to Le Lettre de la Photographie. Schonauer’s column, “USA Press Review,” will look at photographic stories in American newspapers and magazines. His first dispatch comments on the tumult in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as entertainment features, including ones shot by Annie Leibovitz, Terry Richardson, and Art Streiber:

Justin Bieber. Photo by Art Streiber, Vanity Fair, Feburary 2011. Writes Schonauer: ”Art Streiber is one of my favorite magazine portrait photographers….In this picture he transforms ’the most popular 16-year-old on the planet’ into a 1950s teen idol, showing how things never really change.”

It’s definitely a photo blog worth bookmarking. URL: lalettredelaphotographie.com

The best of 2010 (updated)

Kristina Feliciano — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:04:52 +0000

When you look back at 2010, what photos, photo books, and exhibitions stand out the most in your memory? Here’s a look at some of the best-of lists compiled by various websites and other photo blogs—starting with a handful of new posts that went up over the holiday break:

THE 2010 TOP TEN LIST,
JAMES DANZIGER’S BLOG, THE YEAR IN PICTURES.

Photo by Mickalene Thomas. Courtesy of The Year in Pictures. "The connections between contemporary art and traditional photography continue to intertwine as seen here in Mickalene Thomas’ bad-ass tribute to Seydou Keita," writes Danziger. "Jumping between painting, appliqué, and photography, Mickalene Thomas is just one of the new breed of hyphenates making waves as the art and photography world continue to grow closer together."

TOP PHOTO BLOG POSTS OF THE YEAR,
PDNPULSE.COM.

PDN asked the editors of the photo blogs for four major newspapers which of their 2010 posts were the most popular. "Wall Street Journal director of photography Jack Van Antwerp reports that an assignment to a handful of photographers to go out and shoot scenes in New York City after hours grabbed the most attention this year on their 'Photo Journal' blog," writes PDN. "Van Antwerp believes the quality of the photography and the subject—what New York looks like when most of us are asleep—led to the high interest in the post."

10 BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS OF 2010,
ELIZABETH AVEDON’S BLOG

THE MOST MEMORABLE PHOTO SHOWS OF 2010,
POSTED BY ELISABETH BIONDI AT PHOTO BOOTH,
THE NEW YORKER’S BLOG.

Photo from “Alfred Stieglitz New York” at the Seaport Museum. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington.

THE BEST PHOTOS OF THE YEAR,
TIME MAGAZINE.

20 BEST PHOTOS OF 2010,
SPIN MAGAZINE.

CANNES 2010: THE BEST PHOTOS,
LIFE.COM.

BEST CELEBRITY PET PICTURES 2010,
PEOPLE MAGAZINE’S PEOPLEPETS.COM.

BEST OF 2010,
TRIANGLETRIANGLE.COM.

Photo by Avi Katzman, from TriangleTriangle's best-of list.

2010’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS,
FROM SEAN O’HAGAN’S “ON PHOTOGRAPHY” COLUMN IN THE GUARDIAN.

Nadav Kander's "Yangtze—The Long River," published by Hatje Cantz.

PLUS:
THE MOST MEMORABLE ATHLETES OF 2010
A LIST COMPILED BY OUR OWN WALTER IOOSS,
WHO ALSO SHOT THE ISSUE’S “10 WHO MADE ’10 MEMORABLE” COVER.

Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants. Photo by Walter Iooss.

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PLUS ALSO:
BEST OF 2010—OUR FAVORITE PHOTO BLOG POSTS OF THE YEAR
POSTED BY PHOTO SHELTER
(FEATURING 4 POSTS FROM THE STOCKLAND MARTEL BLOG!)

Nadav Kander’s “Yangtze” takes the gold at German Photo Book Awards

Kristina Feliciano — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:16:14 +0000

Nadav Kander’s monograph Yangtze—The Long River, published this fall by art-book specialists Hatje Cantz and featuring an introduction by Kofi Annan, won a gold award last night at the German Photo Book Awards. Congratulations, Nadav!

Here are excerpts from a couple of reviews:

“Ultimately, Yangtze—The Long River is not so much a book about China at this particular point in time, it’s a book about us and what we are making out of this planet. It’s not a pretty sight,” wrote Joerg Colberg at his blog, Conscientious.

Writes Sean O’Hagan in his “On Photography” column for U.K. newspaper The Guardian: “The more Kander and his camera travel upstream, the more the Yangtze becomes a kind of phantom, passing though landscapes that seem dreamlike, either totally deserted or inhabited by one or two human figures who cling stubbornly to the remains of the old ways.”

Photo by Nadav Kander. From the book "Yangtze—The Long River."

And here’s a snippet from an interview Nadav did with DiscoveryNews. In this excerpt from “Destroying to Develop: China’s Rise Along the Yangtze River: Big Pics,” the reporter notes that “not everyone in [China] is comfortable with the country’s ever-changing landscape” and goes on to quote Nadav:

“I met a man on a train, and he was very cross about it,” Kander said. “He said to me ‘you can go back to the (United Kingdom) and go back to the same place. It still feels the same and smells the same. But people here can’t go back to where we were,’ and I thought, ‘why do we have to destroy to develop?’”

An exhibition of Nadav’s Prix Pictet–winning series is currently traveling the globe and is now on view at the m97 Gallery in Shanghai. More details here.

Video interview: Nadav Kander on his series “Yangtze: The Long River”

Kristina Feliciano — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:47:46 +0000

The online photo, art, media, and culture magazine Lens Culture recorded a video interview with Nadav in Paris about his award-winning series “Yangtze: The Long River”—what inspired the project, what he wanted to express with it, and how the project evolved as he worked on it. Nadav, who worked on the series for three years, explains that he became interested in doing a series on the Yangtze after reading newspaper articles and particularly a book by Simon Winchester called The River at the Center of the World, which noted that more people live along the Yangtze than live in the U.S. in total. “The river was such a perfect metaphor for change,” Nadav says in the interview.

Photographers all have their own approaches to their personal projects, with some preferring to map things out in precise detail ahead of time, others choosing to wing it, and still other photographers inclined to research their subject and form a theory that they then go and explore. Explore is the key word here. It means remaining open to photographic and thematic possibilities that you might not have planned on. With “Yangtze,” Nadav was in this last camp, going into his project with clear ideas but allowing himself to be free within them and what he might encounter. In fact, as he tells Lens Culture, on his first trip to the Yangtze, he made “intimate portraits” indoors and out. But he recognized that he was just at the beginning of a discovery process.

“Only on my second trip did I start to realize that what was working better for me was when I stepped back and became more voyeuristic—when I acted the outsider that was I actually very much feeling in China,” he says. “I really believe if I had done one trip…two months, three months later, I would have returned with a very National Geographic, Life set of pictures.”

To see a selection of Nadav’s “Yangtze” photographs, along with text by him, click here. And to watch the video interview, click here or on the image below.

Click on the image to view Lens Culture's video interview with Nadav Kander.

Stockland Martel goes to London for Nadav Kander’s exhibition opening at Flowers gallery (photos)

Kristina Feliciano — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:37:51 +0000

Nadav Kander, "Yibin IV, Sichuan Province," 2007. Chromogenic color print. Courtesy Flowers, London.

Last Thursday, “Yangtze—The Long River,” an exhibition featuring previously unseen photographs from Nadav Kander’s Prix Pictet–winning series, opened at Flowers gallery in London. The show, which will be on view through November 13, coincides with the publication of a comprehensive monograph issued by German book publisher Hatje Cantz. Tomorrow, Flowers will be hosting a conversation between Nadav and Philip Dodd from 7 to 9 pm. For details, visit flowersgalleries.com.

Here’s an excerpt from a review by the British culture site Spoonfed:

“When we arrive at Flowers on Kingsland Road, the place is heaving, as crowds admire Nadav Kander’s mesmerising photographs taken along the course of China’s Yangtze River. Yangtze – The Long River captures the constant urbanisation of life in modern day China. Kander’s images are magnificent; the extraordinary tonal differences between the muted, dense greys and misty bands of thick fog contrast with the fleshy tones of the people which populate them, the bright touches and hues of their clothing pops against the translucent veil of pollution.”

Nadav (far right) with gallery owner Matthew Flowers (center) on opening night.

Bill, Maureen, and Stockland Martel photo editor Katya Arsenieva flew to London to attend the opening and to spend time with Nadav, who is fresh off of his epic fund-raising, glutes-testing bike ride to raise funds for two British hospitals (see Nadav Kander’s Bicycle Diaries). Here are a couple of photos they took in his studio, which is in the Kentish Town/Camden area of London…

Nadav and Maureen review images at Nadav's studio. At left is Felicity McCabe, Nadav's first assistant. Bill is way in the back at the computer, no doubt trying to winnow down the contents of his inbox.

From left: Maureen, Katya, Nadav, Zoe Tomlinson, Nadav's studio manager, and Bill.

While they were across the pond, Bill, Maureen, and Katya visited several other

Europe-based Stockland Martel photographers, including Jason Hindley…

Jason Hindley and his wife (and ace studio manager) Keiko at breakfast with Bill and Maureen.

A photo that Keiko took of Bill at the Islington outpost of the famed Ottolenghi restaurant.

…and Michael Wirth…

Maureen and Michael Wirth at Ukai Sushi.

Maureen and Bill dining at one of Bill's favorite vegetarian restaurants, near Nadav's studio.

Bill, Katya, and Maureen.

Bill and Maureen value these opportunities to spend time with the SM photographers who are outside of New York. It’s sort of like visiting with a family member who lives far away—you don’t get to do it as often as you like, but it’s always a fun and special time when you do get together.

Plus, we’re all very proud of Nadav. If you’re not familiar with his “Yangtze” series, here’s some excellent background on it taken from the exhibition’s press release:

Nadav Kander made several voyages along the course of China’s Yangtze River, travelling up-stream from mouth to source over a period of three years. Previously unseen photographs from the resulting body of work – ‘Yangtze – The Long River’ – go on display at Flowers from 14 October 2010 to coincide with the publication of a monograph comprising the complete series.

Using the river as a metaphor for constant change Kander attempted at every stage of the journey, to relate and reflect the consequences of the incomprehensible and seemingly unnatural development in modern-day China.

The journey begins at the coastal estuary, where thousands of ships leave and enter each day, and moves past renowned suicide bridges, coal mines and the largest dam in the world – The Three Gorges Dam. Further inland we encounter Chongqing – the fastest-growing urban centre on the planet.

Kander never photographed further than twenty miles from the river itself. In the shadow of epic construction projects we see workers, fishermen, swimmers and even a man washing his motorbike in the river. Dense architecture gives way to mountains in the upper reaches towards the river’s Tibetan source – a sparsely populated area where the stream is mostly broken ice and just ankle deep.

The river is embedded in the consciousness of the Chinese, even those separated from it by thousands of miles. It plays a pivotal role in both the spiritual and physical life of the nation. More people live along its banks than in the USA – one in every eighteen people on the planet. Common man however, appears to have little say in China’s progression and this smallness of the individual is alluded to in Kander’s work.

The photographs are dominated by immense architectural structures where humans are shown as small in their environment. Figures are dwarfed by landscapes of half completed bridges and colossal Western-style apartment blocks that are rapidly replacing traditional Chinese low-rise buildings and houseboats.

Throughout the series, we can almost feel the weight of the humid air and haze of pollution, which Kander describes in muted tones occasionally enlivened by the smallest bright touches of clothing.

Kander responded intuitively to a feeling that China is severing its roots – the resulting landscapes and documentary-inflected fictions weigh the human and environmental cost of China’s often brutal, dehumanizing shift from state-controlled communism to state-sanctioned capitalism.

Nadav Kander said: “The photographs are an emotional response to what I saw. I gave them simple titles so that viewers are encouraged to respond subjectively before seeking the facts.”

Kander’s China is a country both at the beginning of a new era and at odds with itself, and one that inspired him to create works of sublime, soulful art.

• “The Yangtze: Rapids Ahead,” a feature by Jonathan Watts, the Guardian’s Asia correspondent, published in the Weekend magazine