The renowned photographer and We Are Playstation judge speaks about his approach to portraiture and describes what he will be looking for in the winning submission.
You recently photographed the people behind Barack Obama's presidential campaign for the New York Times, how did that come to life?
I have been working with the New York Times for a number of years and once it became fairly certain that Obama was going to win the election, they set the wheels in motion for Obama's People: a collection of photographs of the people that matter to him, and they decided that I was the right person to photograph it. I was thrilled to have been involved in such a historic moment, and it's the first time in the magazine's history that they have devoted an entire issue to one photographer.
There were many exceptional subjects; I knew [Joe] Biden and Hillary Clinton beforehand, but not living in America, there were some that I didn't know, such as the White House Chief of Staff. They really are a very young, positive team; it was inspiring.
How do you feel about the relatively recent rise of digital photography?
I'm still making up my mind, I have to say. There are positive aspects to working with both film and digital. In terms of quality, it's obvious that digital is not as fine as using a 10" x 8" negative or even a 5" x 4" negative, but that aside, there's something magical about working blind with film. You experience the atmosphere of what's in front of you without truly knowing how it is going to look on a flat piece of paper.
With digital, in my case there is always a big screen at the side of the shoot and one positive is that you can edit your pictures as you go along. If I'm doing something on the Yangtze River in China, for example, working digitally allows me to be more concise and prolific because I'm editing throughout the shoot.
I enjoy both methods of working and I'm not completely swayed by either. I spent every other day in a darkroom for 20 years and I believe that experience informs my work to this day, but I wouldn't suggest to a student that they go back to those methods because it is so far from where photography is now and where it is going.
Do you use a lot of post-production or are you more restrained?
It depends what I'm doing and I don't think there should be any rules with art. I don't tend to do anything to my pictures that I wouldn't do in a darkroom, but I can be more accurate with a computer. My work is generally as I intend when I shoot; it's not hugely composed, but each to their own.
What do we mean when we say an image captures the essence of someone or something?
I don't intend to get too ethereal here but I've mentioned the word atmosphere a few times and I think that is what charges any great photograph with beauty. I don't mean beauty in a pretty sense, but in a questioning way, so that when you look at an image it isn't just a breaking wave and a seagull; you feel that there is more going on and that you can sense the mood. For me, the essence of someone or something lies in that atmosphere.
What advice would you give for directing subjects?
With Obama's People, I didn't want to impose my ideas or views on the subjects; I wanted them to be the author of the picture, while I pick up on little things that they do, like picking their nails or standing a certain way; the things that make them different from the person next to them. I wanted to take them out of the context of time and place, put them against a plain background and let them slowly find out how to inhabit and be themselves, or manage themselves without me talking to them.
At other times, it's less about how I interact and more about the lighting; I might want to light the person in a certain way and all I want them to do is stand still so that I can achieve what I'm after. How you direct your subject can be quite different each time and it depends on your intention.
What will you be looking for in the We Are PlayStation winner?
I'll be looking for pictures that are interesting and that ask questions of me, so that I'm wondering what the photographer is trying to do and why, rather than just thinking that it looks pretty. One of the things a great photograph can convey more than a painting is a sense of heightened reality, so I'd like to see submissions that capture both realism and this atmosphere that I have spoken of.
Take a look at some of Nadav Kander's portraits below and at nadavkander.com.
