Jimmy Nelson
Lauren Scott talks to the photographer about cultural expression and extreme journeys for his new book
Explore the world’s most remote tribes with this award-winning photographer
Since his first internationally acclaimed exploration through Tibet almost 30 years ago, Jimmy Nelson has travelled to the world’s most hidden corners to photograph indigenous people. In 2013 he published his first book, Before They Pass Away, which was created to raise awareness around the world’s unimaginable diversity. In his new book Homage to Humanity, Jimmy shares more stories from the world’s last indigenous cultures. As well as iconic photographs, the new volume contains personal interviews with the portrayed individuals, compelling travel tales and infographics, and maps of his routes.
Jimmy has included cultural expressions from around the world in stills, but the book is more an immersive experience than a visual eye-catcher alone. This is because every photograph on the page has a hidden digital layer, thanks to the accompanying mobile app Jimmy Nelson Companion. You can scan any image in the book to bring up the world behind it, and find behind-the-scenes footage and a 360-degree experience. Through all his work, Jimmy says that he’s driven by passion and a sense of exploration and determination. Using a camera, his aim is to hold a mirror to us as humans, at a time where rapid development, material affluence and new technologies distract us from some of the most profound and timeless truths about human nature.
In the foreword to Homage to Humanity, he borrows a quote from fashion designer Donna Karan: “The world does not belong to us; we belong to the world.” His book shows us again and again that despite the differences in the way we look, talk and live, we all crave the same things: a sense of belonging, and a sense of being loved.
Keeping kit light for travel, these intimate indigenous portraits were all shot on a Leica S (Typ 007). Let’s find out more about the stories and inspirations behind them...
Where in the world are you, and what are you working on?
I’m presently in Amsterdam, my office and studio base, and I’m busy promoting internationally the launch and the publication of Homage to Humanity, my second book.
What were the inspirations behind Homage to Humanity?
The inspirations are based on wanting to validate my first book, Before They Pass
Away, which was a large book of more than 20 chapters of iconic indigenous cultures around the world. There was very little depth to it – it was purely a visual and artistic interpretation.
Homage to Humanity is trying to provide much more insight, much more
“My work is a subjective, romantic, iconic and artistic representation of how I see the world’s last, most beautiful natural settings”
depth, and the combination of the digital interactivity, too. I spent two-and-a-half years producing the content, along with my team of 10 others.
You cover some very remote locations. What was the travel like?
“Homage to Humanity is trying to provide more insight, more depth, and the combination of the digital interactivity, too
I love travelling, and I will travel until the day that I, myself, pass away. The thrill of leaving one world and entering into another never ceases to amaze me, and lure me in. It’s like a sort of siren on a cliff, in a windy storm.
Are there any stories that stand out?
There were two particularly extreme journeys. One went to the heart of the Papua New Guinean highlands, to Mount Bosavi; and the other was to northern Siberia and the farthest northernmost-living people on the planet, one-and-a-half thousand kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.
Going to Mount Bosavi in the Papua New Guinean highlands was like entering a world where time has stood still. Travelling back, we had to hire chartered aircraft. We were dropped into the jungle. We had to walk for days through swamps and torrential rivers,
and we were eaten by leeches. Then, when we eventually arrived in the village, I think that we were only the second foreign visitor ever to arrive there. It was like arriving in Shangri-La.
At the very beginning, people were very suspicious of our motives, but as time passed and the days progressed, it ended up in what seemed like an eternal party.
For the journey to northern Siberia, we had to fly on four aircraft, spend 48 hours in a jeep across the tundra, and then more than 12 hours on the back of a ski-doo, in -60 degrees Centigrade temperatures, in the dark. It was February, so there was only about one hour of daylight a day, and the -60 Centigrade journey with a strange person on the back of a ski-doo, following the lines in the snow, is like nothing that I can describe.
When we arrived, we found these people living in these little houses on
skis – there were only 10 of them in the middle of nowhere. Again, words cannot describe it.
Many of the people you feature in the book are from very remote communities. What did they make of you and your camera?
I think the majority of the remote communities that I visit are not overly interested in the camera, a little bit like they’re not overly interested in where I come from. They can’t really place it. They don’t necessarily understand the concept of photography, or the use of it, but I found very much they were intrinsically interested in me as a person. Me, there, today, Jimmy, what I had to say, what I felt, how I laughed, how I slept, how I ate. The very essence of what it is to be a human being. Not what I represented. Not where I came from. Not what my purpose was, but very much who I was.
How would you describe your work to somebody who’s never seen it?
My work is a subjective, romantic, iconic and artistic representation of how I see the world’s last, most beautiful natural settings, and the people who inhabit them. Some of them are tribes and some of them are indigenous communities, but they live in a cultural and a natural balance that the majority of the
world has lost. In 2050, the United Nations estimates that 85% of the world will be living in concrete. These people that I represent, that I show, that I cherish, that I share, are the last bastions of what it was to be truly human in the world before we put our fingerprint on it.
Do you carry a lot of camera gear with you?
Relatively speaking, I carry very little gear. There are two of us; my creative partner, she’s a camera lady. She carries a bag of movie cameras. I carry a bag of still cameras, plus a couple of tripods, a little bit of clothing, and food when we need it. Due to the modern digitalisation of technology, we can get away with relatively very little. It’s extremely important to travel light, because then you can adapt to circumstances and change straight away.
The logistics must be complex for a project like this. Do you travel with a big team?
I work with a big team. In Amsterdam
I have 12 extraordinarily creative people who organize the logistics, the finance, the marketing, the sponsoring, the publication, the exhibiting, the talking, and the communication. While I’m away in the field with the camera lady who I work with, the majority of the work is done on the
“I think it’s extremely important to have people who inspire you; iconographic imagemakers who push you on”
back end, consolidating all the material and sharing it with the world.
How do you go about finding the subjects you plan to shoot?
In the past, I would find them myself. I’m 50 years old. I have a lifelong network of locations and individuals who can give me access to them. With the further promotion and onset of the popularity of the project, more and more people seem to be coming to me saying, “I can facilitate your visit to some of the world’s last most indigenous cultures,” which is the most extraordinary compliment.
What is your approach and advice for creating intimate portraits?
The best approach is very, very simple. Be very patient, be very humble, be very fragile, and be very vulnerable. The smaller you make yourself, and the bigger and the better you make the person that you’re photographing, the sooner they will give you their heart and their soul.
How did you get your initial break in photography?
I was 18 years old. I’d spent the better part of two years travelling across Tibet in the 1980s, and I came back with a few portraits I’d made on a very old Zenit B camera – which I have still today here in my office – on four rolls of negative film.
Because Tibet had not been visited for 30 years, these portraits were unique. They were not necessarily good pictures at the time, but they provided an insight into a culture that had rarely been seen for many years.
Are there any photographers that are a big influence on you?
I have a very large and eclectic collection of photography books. I’m a massive fan of Irving Penn, Edward Statham, and contemporary photographers such as Annie Leibovitz. Going back in time, Edward Steichen, Edward S Curtis... The list goes on, and on, and on.
I think it’s extremely important to have people who inspire you. People who you look up to – iconographic image-makers who push you on. Above them all is Richard Avedon. I think he’s the king of kings.
What are you working on next?
An extension of the project that I’m currently busy with. In the next two years, I will be producing two or maybe even three books: one on the Middle East, one on the Pacific, and one on more of the indigenous cultures living in the northern hemisphere. Jimmy Nelson’s book Homage to Humanity is available now.
Download Jimmy Nelson’s free companion app for iOS or Android at www.jimmy nelson.com/app