MJ Director Nick Brandt Gives Talk in NYC on Preserving African Wildlife

[jamba]

Nick Brandt directed 5 short films: Earth Song, Childhood, Stranger in Moscow, Cry, and the last one One More Chance. When he was in Tanzania filming for Earth Song, he fell in love with the landscape and the wildlife and began a career as a wildlife photographer. He published 3 books of his photos--they are truly amazing portraits (black and white and no zoom lens used in the shots). Over time, he became alarmed at the decimation of the wildlife, esp. the poaching of elephants for their ivory and the general loss of habitat and wildlife.

Out of this concern, he co-founded Big Life Foundation to protect African wildlife (they are poached even in the national parks). Through his foundation, they have purchased a lot of equipment, hired and trained rangers, and partnered them with tracker dogs that help find poachers after they have killed. The tracker dogs are a big help cause otherwise the poachers disappear.

I wanted to share this info. There is a cost to attend b/c it's a fundraiser ($150). I am going b/c I want to support Nick Brandt's efforts. I think it so great that he is doing this and I know MJ would be proud and happy at his important work to protect elephants and other endangered wildlife. Also, I want to meet him--he made a lot of MJ films!!



On Tuesday, September 10, 2013, Hasted Kraeutler Gallery will host a fundraiser to support Big Life Foundation. The evening will include a talk by Nick Brandt, co-founder of Big Life Foundation, an exhibition of Nick's recent work and book release of "Across The Ravaged Land", as well as an auction of his photographs.

When:

Tuesday, September 10, 2013
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Where:

Hasted Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
212.627.0006

www.biglife.org

wendie@biglife.org (for more info)

 

[qbee]

It was while directing "Earth Song", a music video for Michael Jackson in Tanzania, in 1995 that Brandt fell in love with the animals and land of East Africa. Over the next few years, frustrated that he could not capture on film his feelings about and love for animals, he realized there was a way to achieve this through photography, in a way that he felt no-one had really done before.

Nick Brandt ... Living on Earth...
http://www.egodesign.ca/en/article.php?article_id=591&page=1



Nick Brandt on directing Michael’s Earth Song.

“The most interesting time for me was on “Earth Song” when, I had a bunch of very cynical, jaded New Yorkers for crew, the part of the shoot that he was there, and they were just auh, Michael Jackson, dadadadada. But then, when he started singing, at the end of that song, and he’s just, screaming out the vocals, you could, you could just see, you just look around and everybody had stopped in their tracks and was watching him, riveted. And he’d only give you like one take from each angle because he was being blasted by, you know, these wind machines and, stuff was flying in his eyes and, just, I mean it was really hard. I mean it was just firing dust and leaves and, all matter of stuff, into his face, and everybody was just electrified. And he completely turned everybody around.”


- Nick Brandt ,Fine Art Photographer and Film Director.


“As I think back to all the musicians I’ve done music videos for, I cannot think of anybody that has had that electrifying a presence when they kick in.” ~ Nick Brandt



Selected Works by Nick Brandt
http://www.bernheimer.com/photography/collection/256

(images will enlarge when clicked)

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[HIStory]

Beautiful pics!

 

[TheChosenOne]

How absolutely beautiful!

It is so heartwarming how this has worked out. Michael has touched and changed lives in so many big and small ways.

 

[jamba]

It was while directing "Earth Song", a music video for Michael Jackson in Tanzania, in 1995 that Brandt fell in love with the animals and land of East Africa. Over the next few years, frustrated that he could not capture on film his feelings about and love for animals, he realized there was a way to achieve this through photography, in a way that he felt no-one had really done before.

Nick Brandt ... Living on Earth...
http://www.egodesign.ca/en/article.php?article_id=591&page=1



Nick Brandt on directing Michael&#8217;s Earth Song.

&#8220;The most interesting time for me was on &#8220;Earth Song&#8221; when, I had a bunch of very cynical, jaded New Yorkers for crew, the part of the shoot that he was there, and they were just auh, Michael Jackson, dadadadada. But then, when he started singing, at the end of that song, and he&#8217;s just, screaming out the vocals, you could, you could just see, you just look around and everybody had stopped in their tracks and was watching him, riveted. And he&#8217;d only give you like one take from each angle because he was being blasted by, you know, these wind machines and, stuff was flying in his eyes and, just, I mean it was really hard. I mean it was just firing dust and leaves and, all matter of stuff, into his face, and everybody was just electrified. And he completely turned everybody around.&#8221;


- Nick Brandt ,Fine Art Photographer and Film Director.


&#8220;As I think back to all the musicians I&#8217;ve done music videos for, I cannot think of anybody that has had that electrifying a presence when they kick in.&#8221; ~ Nick Brandt



Selected Works by Nick Brandt
http://www.bernheimer.com/photography/collection/256

(images will enlarge when clicked)

<section class="block block-views clearfix" id="block-views-Collection_Artworks-block_2">























</section>

Thanks so much for posting all that info, Qbee!!!!

Here's Nick's Author Page on Amazon--it shows the 3 books of photographs he has published so far--and the new one is coming out in October.

http://www.amazon.com/Nick-Brandt/e/B001KHNPDQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1377803759&sr=1-2-ent

Also, here is the wikipedia entry on him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Brandt

And his website with the list of exhibitions (there's one is Oslo now):

http://www.nickbrandt.com

IMO he has directed some of the best short films of MJ--I am not sure, but I don't think any other person has directed 5 of MJ's short films (?). The work he did on Earth Song, Childhood, and Stranger in Moscow is beautiful. I am hoping one day mjjc will do a Q and A with him.

The quote about how the jaded New Yorkers were turned around is wonderful!!

 

[jamba]

Here is a quote from the egodesign site Qbee posted re Nick's approach to wildlife photography as a fine art form:

"Few photographers have ever considered the photography of wild animals, as distinctly opposed to the genre of Wildlife Photography, as an art form. The emphasis has generally been on capturing the drama of wild animals IN ACTION, on capturing that dramatic single moment, as opposed to simply animals in the state of being."

Nick B. photographs really capture the 'state of being' of the individual animals.

I also feel it's heartwarming, as TheChosenOne said, that his photography work began as a result of MJ's Earth Song, and that MJ touched so many in such positive ways.