Born on the Northern Beaches of Sydney 50 years ago, Bradley Patrick came to Gunnedah as an infant when work offered his parents Ron and Marie the chance to raise their family in the country.

Growing up with older siblings Mark, Michelle, Michael, Annette and Troy, Bradley enjoyed the games of golf, tennis and basketball, along with cooking, reading, films, music and of course – photography.

“I knew I wanted to be a photographer from the first moment I stepped into a photographic darkroom at Gunnedah High School in Year 7,” Bradley said.

“From developing my first roll of black and white film and learning how to print, I was mesmerised and that moment has never left me.  It was a great place to experiment and make mistakes.”

Bradley has been living his passion for 30 plus years and it has taken him to all corners of the world. He has worked on projects from Los Angeles to New York and London, and many parts of Europe and Asia, but loves nothing more than working in Australia. His speciality is celebrity portraits and film stills which can be seen at his website.

“The COVID lockdown was a challenging time for everyone in my industry – jobs were cancelled everywhere – I was in LA at the time of the shutdowns and quickly made my way back to the safety of Australia,” Bradley said.

“I happened to get the opportunity to work on some amazing productions during that time including Bunya Productions – True Colours on SBS which we shot in Alice Springs. Also the production of Troppo for the ABC which we shot on the Gold Coast.

“I recently completed some work on the new TV series Deadloch for Amazon, The Messenger for ABC and Boy Swallows Universe for Netflix – I’m slowly putting together a retrospective of my work for a book titled “RAW’.”

Bradley is also keen to share his knowledge through a few workshops.

“Perhaps I could even come back to Gunnedah,” he said.

“I recently missed my 30-year reunion due to work.”

After writing his debut feature film script ‘The Dress’, which took about seven years, Bradley is keen to direct this project as he has done a few short films and worked across countless film/TV projects.

“If I could impart any advice to the younger generation out there it would be this – read as much as you can, our privilege as storytellers is about taking the viewer on a journey, creating a positive narrative in your work should always be the goal,” he said.

As a boy Bradley eagerly awaited National Geographic magazine each month and would read every article, captivated at all the brilliant photo journalists working across the globe, and dream of all the amazing places to one day visit himself.

He said that reading countless articles and books on the greats of photography including Terry O’Neil, Douglas Kirkland, William Klein, Mary Ellen Mark, Lee Miller, Bert Stern, Horst P Horst, Peter Lindbergh, Helmet Newton, Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz provided endless inspiration.

“Photography is an art form that lets you dream big and explore a whole range of emotions – I will never lose the love of capturing memories for a lifetime” he said.

After leaving school Bradley moved to Sydney where he worked as assistant to a number of photographers but after a year or so he was asked the big question – do you want to be an assistant or a photographer? His answer was to always be a photographer and he started a few weeks later as the second photographer on corporate, editorial, music, film and several other types of photographic shoots.

“My biggest take away from assisting other photographers was learning about the different types of personalities that you get to work with and how being a genuinely nice person will take you a very long way in this industry,” he said.

“Learning about all the types of lighting you can use to tell stories and capture magic moments is probably the most important aspect of  photography. When you are put in the position to figure out what is the best way to tell a particular story you need to have the knowledge to decide on composition, mood, structure, film or digital, black and white or colour.”
Bradley believes that after 30-plus years in the profession you never stop learning new things. And that’s what photography is to him.

“When you choose your niche in photography, never stop challenging yourself, never stop learning new ways of doing things,” he said.

“Successful creative people work extremely hard and often struggle trying to balance everyday life, because you always have the urge to create some piece of work that nobody understands until it’s complete – I have created an extraordinary life for myself, but remaining humble and positive are traits that I will always strive for. Having a supportive family is also a key factor. My amazing wife Leigh and sons Maison and Lewis are a constant source of inspiration.”

Bradley still has a Gunnedah connection in his older brother Michael, who lives here with his family.

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