Research- Nadav Kander

This British photographer has been scribbled in a list of 'Photographers' I keep at the back of my notebook for a while. Whenever I start a new project, or simply need some inspiration, I consult this ever expanding list and just refresh my head on what it was about them or their photographs I loved. I remembered him having some relevant imagery I could research for this project.

His project 'Obama's People' is the one I'm interested in the most. He is primarily a portrait photographer (though I found him because of his landscape work) and a very good one. That said, his portraits of celebrities don't interest me anywhere near as much as the series like this.

For me, it challenges stereotypes and looks at identity. The 52 portraits were of the people surrounding Barrack Obama in his election campaign. His advisors, his employees and those who were part of his party and administration. The proejct itself had a lot of work behind it. Kander had help and also sequenced the images in a certain order, but it's more the portraits that interest me.

Without seeing the backstory or doing any research, I presumed they were all people who had voted for him. The closer inspection of the project gives a much more interesting approach. Those surrounding him who know him better than anyone except his family. I looked at them in a different way, trying to gage what sort of people he hired and could I learn anything about him from looking at them and his choices. One thing that is quickly apparent is the range of people. Of age, race, gender, style. He clearly didn't discrimate in any way when picking those to surround him for anything except whether they were capable which is how it should be.

I also find it interesting because most of these people are not used to the limelight. They'd be use to it all being about the man they work for and this oppurtunity for them to be the centre of attention particularly interests me because does it change how they pose or approach the portraits.

Something else that's brilliant is the varying approach that I and the photographer who made these have. To quote Kander, he says "I don't believe all that shit about 'capturing the soul. It (photography) is about accuracy of portrayal. It is about who these people are and who they want to be." I find that statement fascinating. I think a portrait can be exactly that, but I disagree that it can't capture the soul.

However, these images give the person behind the lens total freedom to present themselves how they wish, which is great. I'm looking to explore the way that people wish others would see them and the idea of first impressions or changing parts of yourself for special ocassions, like a portrait or a job interview. To create the series, Kander had each of them shot on a white background and asked each person to bring along an item that gave away something about their personality. This range of response is brilliant and gives the people an oppurtunity to be exactly who they want to be for the camera, even if that representation of them is not 100% true to their everyday life.

Below are some of the images from the series:-