His father flew Boeing 707s for El-Al but lost his eye and was unable to continue flying. His parents decided to start again in South Africa and moved to Johannesburg in 1963. Kander began taking pictures when he was 13 on a Pentax camera. After being drafted into the South African Air Force, Kander worked in a darkroom printing aerial photographs. He moved to London in 1986, where he still resides with his wife Nicole and their three children