Nadav was born in 1961 in Israel and was raised in South Africa. In the mid 1980s he moved to London where he currently resides with his family. He became interested in photography as a boy and at 13 bought his first camera. After a motorcycle accident at 15, photography became his focus and he redirected the focus of the South African National Service into an apprenticeship in the military darkroom. From here, he assisted Harry de Zitter and met Nicole who was and still is central to his life and work. Having visited Europe as a young boy he longed to return and so in the mid 80s arrived with no money and only a handful of friends and with Nicole’s support began to forge his career as undoubtedly one of the most original and highly regarded photographers of our time.

I started working with Nadav in 2004, when his place in photography was firmly established. Between 2006 & 2008 he travelled to China, unsure of what he would find when he got there - he intuitively started photographing the cities and landscapes and few people that he encountered. Slowly the work took shape and it culminated in the Yangzte, the Long River series, first shown at Flowers East in November 2008. This work was nominated for the prestigious Prix Pictet which he won in November 2009. Last winter also saw him scoop the Lucie International Photographer of the Year award in the US. In late January 2009 the New York Times magazine published an entire issue of Kander’s portraits of the Obama Administration, the week before the inauguration. These portraits were commissioned by Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography at the New York Times Magazine.

Nadav continues to be approached by clients the world over to bring that something extra to an idea and most recently he has won two combined print & moving image campaigns. Lauded and celebrated, he’s won awards from amongst others Cannes, Art Directors Club, Lucie’s, Creative Review, Epica and D&AD.

http://www.nadavkander.com

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