Nick Brandt

Most of you have probably come across the work of Nick Brandt before but if you haven't, he is an absolutely amazing wildlife photographer whose work is definitely worth taking a look at. It's not just his compositions I love, it's the treatment of them. I did A Level photography and we didn't touch a single digital camera in the whole two years. Instead of Photoshop, we used the darkroom extensively to manipulate and enhance our shots with manual techniques such as bleaching and sepia treatment. And, at the risk of sounding old, I think this is something that is really lost in the digital age. It's pretty easy to create great effects in Photoshop, but they're just not as good as the real deal, and I think this is something that is being reflected in design at the moment - particularly within illustration I've seen a lot of artists revert back to good old fashioned paper and ink over vector images. Computers are a fantastic tool, but I personally think we shouldn't loose touch with the tactile approach.

I'm also very jealous of anyone who makes a living by spending their time sitting around in Africa taking photos! I'm lucky enough to have been to Ambolseli where a lot of Nick Brandt's shots were taken, and this is my best attempt:

It's not to bad a shot, but it's nowhere near the standard of Brandt's photos. To see more of his work and other great photographers, visit the Young Gallery.