Endangered species: "There is not enough space for humans and other animals"

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Brandt, your photo series "This Empty World" shows pictures with tens of people - and in between a few elephants, a giraffe or a rhino. What do you want to convey?

Nick Brandt: When people think of dying animals in Africa, they mostly have poaching in mind. The much bigger problem is the dwindling habitat of the animals. The reasons are man-made, such as industrial development or wars. There just is not enough room for humans and other animals.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The people in the photos, are they victims or perpetrators?

Brandt: I did not want to portray her as an attacker. Although they are somehow threatening to wildlife, most are themselves victims. Sure, there are poachers who kill animals out of greed. But most people just want to survive.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Who are the culprits?

Brandt: It is impossible to show them: industrialists, politicians and business oligarchs - all those who are primarily interested in profit and not in principles or the preservation of nature.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How did the pictures come about?

Brandt: Each photo shows an artificial, specially made by us backdrop. The final pictures are composed of several single shots - sometimes several weeks in between - assembled. For 40 of the 45 subjects, the cameras were permanently installed in a fixed position and did not move.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How did you take the pictures with the wild animals?

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Brandt: First, we built some parts of the scenery including cameras in the wild. Of course, not in a nature reserve, but near the Amboseli National Park. Over the next few weeks and months, the animals were able to get used to this artificial environment and walk into the frame where the cameras automatically triggered. Once the animals were photographed, we built the rest - bridges, a gas station, the construction site for a highway - to make there more shots with countless extras. In the end, and that's hugely important to me, we recycled everything we used and left the land as we found it.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The cameras were in use for months. What preparations were needed for this?

Brandt: Colleagues told us that elephants would try to change everything they find. To prevent this, we fastened nails on the outside of the camera boxes. And hyenas like to chew on electrical cables. So we had to move everything underground. The logistics for the scenes was gigantic. Build cameras and flashes, lay cables, install water holes and tanks - all this took about a week per backdrop.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: And then the production lasted more than two and a half years. This is a crazy effort!

Brandt: It was definitely the hardest project I or my crew ever touched. After six months of photo production, my assistant was 14 pounds lighter. For two months we were only able to work at night. That was horrible. We deliberately photographed in very dry, eroded areas. Dust. Everywhere and always. Not just during the sandstorms we had to endure. You cleaned the lens of the cameras, but before you could fire, there was a layer of dust over everything.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You financed "This Empty World" out of pocket. Is not that a big risk?

Nick Brandt / Courtesy of Atlas Gallery / Waddington Custom, London

This is how the pictures came into being: the cameras were firmly positioned, they automatically detained passing animals by means of an automatic trigger. Then scenes were built in the empty scenery, where finally the extras occurred. The position of the cameras remained mostly unchanged. The structure is more reminiscent of a film set.

Brandt: Yes, but that was great, because you do not have to give an account to anyone. You can completely do your thing without having someone interfere with it. The downside is ... that you pay for everything. (Laughs.) I was double the original budget and had to borrow to finance everything.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why was the calculation so far off?

Brandt: Here's an example: Once we got these huge generators from Nairobi, but then we could not take pictures that day. Although not a single photo was taken that day, it cost me $ 35,000. The equipment, the crew, the extras, the catering - all this has to be paid for.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Before your career as a photographer, you were active as a director for several years. Did you benefit from "This Empty World"?

Brandt: For example, I knew how to act with a large crew. After all, "This Empty World" sometimes had several hundred people on the set. Also in dealing with film lights, I was already well versed.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: It is not the first time that the production of your photos dragged on for years. Are you sometimes afraid that somebody might go public with exactly the same idea shortly before you?

Brandt: I'm actually a bit paranoid. That's also why I hardly look during a production, if there is something similar. I have to live with this risk of having nothing exclusively new after two years and a million dollars in production costs. After all, every idea has the option of a cheap copy ...

SPIEGEL ONLINE: ... in your case, to create everything with Photoshop.

Brandt: Exactly. That's not why I do not want people to hear about it. Everyone involved in "This Empty World" had to sign a confidentiality statement. That was several hundred people.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You say that you do not want to compromise as an artist. What does that mean in concrete terms?

Brandt: Even if 90 percent of people do not look at your pictures, you should not change what you do. Invest your time and energy for the people who value your work. No matter how small or big this group is. I am not interested in changing my pictures for people who only look at them in stamp format on a smartphone.

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Nick Brandt:
This empty world

Thames & Hudson; 128 pages; 40.19 euros

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SPIEGEL ONLINE: You play on Instagram.

Brandt: Yes. In my opinion it is the most important visual platform - but at the same time by far the worst.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why?

Brandt: Complex pictures have no chance there. Everything is visually simplified there. My photos are largely based on the facial expressions of the protagonists. In such small formats as on Instagram you do not see anything of it.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How do you recharge your batteries during such an exhausting production?

Brandt: Not at all.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Where does all your energy come from?

Brandt: obsession. Kummer. The approaching end of our earth. As you can see, I'm a pretty bleak guy.