Profiles

From the Archive: Photo Review Dec/Jan 2004:

We emailed Australian photographer Mark Bramley to find out how his freelance career was going in London. Quite well, apparently. He replied: "I'm literally about to leave for the airport, for a four day shoot in Italy, so I'm going to be brief. Feel free to elaborate on my behalf."

A week later, when he had a little time to elaborate for himself, he explained that the shoot had been in Milan, for Autocar magazine's performance car of the year:‘Crazy days thrashing a Ferrari Challenge Stradale, Porsche GT3, BMW M3 CSL and the like around a race track and then touring in Italy.'He even got to drive the cars, clocking 320kph in the Ferrari for a ‘new personal speed record in a car' - an experience ‘more frightening than fun'.


Ferrari chasing Porsche, shot for autocar in Italy. I'm driving the ferrari while pressing the remote to fire the camera.

Bramley, 29, left Sydney for London a year ago, aiming to claim a share of the car and fashion photography market (his mother is Irish, qualifying him for an Irish passport). Predictably, he found the going tough, and he very nearly packed his bags and headed for Heathrow.‘But I hung in there,' he says,‘and now I'm finally getting some terrific regular work.'

Hanging in there involved making hundreds of phone calls, posting out the equivalent amount of promo cards,making more phone calls and, eventually, getting to meet and show his ‘book' to some of the people who commission photographers.‘Then it was a matter of calling them again, sending a different promo, then another call . . . I guess a lot of guys couldn't be arsed to do thatmuch, but I was hungry - literally.'

It took six months to find a rhythm of work.‘I basically had to prove myself all over again before I could start to get some of the work I was getting in Sydney.'

Bramley's interest in photography dates back to when he was 15 and he borrowed his father's Nikon F2 to snap surfing mates and the like. A darkroom was set up under the house in Sydney's southern suburbs and Bramley soon had a miniportfolio. Then he got the chance to do three weeks'work experience in News Ltd's photo department. He liked it so much, he couldn't believe the others got paid.


Ian Thorpe, Sydney.

On leaving school after the HSC, no newspaper had a job, but he also tried Kerry Packer's magazine publishing house Australian Consolidated Press.‘They happened to be looking for a cadet photographer, and I did a few interviews and "6 x 6" test shoots - going out with one roll of 35mm E6 film and shooting six different subjects six different ways, and returning the unprocessed roll at a specified time.'Having nailed the position, Bramley's cadetship entailed darkroom work, assisting other photographers and some basic photography. He was also sent to an evening TAFE course for an associate diploma in photography.

He was at ACP 10 years, then freelanced in Sydney for six months cars, portraits and fashion, using Canon EOS 35mm and Mamiya 645 gear.‘It was a good time in my life to do something silly like move countries, and I thought now or never,' he says.‘I wasn't having problems in Australia. In fact, I was knocking back nice jobs so I could pack my bags.'

Before leaving, Bramley thought London would be tricky, but not too difficult. ‘I was wrong. Living on Australian pesos in London was crippling, and it was no advantage to be an Australian.' There were no breakthrough jobs; just lots of little ones he would have declined in Sydney - ‘but you have to prove you can do them and do them very well'.

The competition in London is extreme.‘There are more than 180 photographers' agencies, compared to about 12 in the whole of Australia,' Bramley says.‘You compete against all of Europe and some of the United States for jobs. Most clients have a lot bigger budgets than their equivalents in Australia, so they can choose whatever photographer they like. It'll be like, "We want to shoot in the Caribbean - should we use a photographer from the US, London or Europe? The cost will be about the same".'

When Bramley featured in APC's inhouse Web magazine earlier this year, he was pictured helmeted, leaning on a bicycle.‘In central London you don't get in your car, park outside the studio and start shooting.Often there is no parking and you have to pack your gear in a cab.Most of the roads are single-lane so the traffic is horrendous. It can take two hours to travel what would take 20 minutes in the Sydney CBD. I own a Subaru WRX STi, butmy pushbike is quicker for getting to and from my local lab.'

His clients include several motoring magazines and New Woman, Elle Girl, J17, Bliss, Cosmo and Clinique. Apart from the EOS and Mamiya gear, he rents whatever he needs from two companies ‘with everything you could think of'. His clients always have a budget for equipment rental. "My life now is pretty silly,' he says.‘Two weeks ago I was shooting in Austria, then Paris. Then it was off to Italy. I've been shooting in studios and locations I could have only dreamt about in Sydney. Some have been great fun - three days in a beautiful location house at Camber Sands on the southern coast of England with five models was good. Being carted around in Ferrari's executive helicopter, shooting the new Ferrari Enzo in Italy was also pretty special.'


Shot for Car magazine, Peak District (England).

Of course, it's also hard work, with considerable pressure.‘I had a shoot for Car magazine a few weekends ago,' he recalls,‘and the art director wanted to use central London, which meant waking up at 3.30am to miss the traffic.There were six people involved and when I got to the location, which I had scouted beforehand, the piece of road was closed for repair. I had three people from arguably the best car magazine in the world asking what am I going to do now? I was sweating, even though it was cold. Amazingly,we found a similar location and the shoot came out well. I slept for about 15 hours after that.'

Pressed for his qualities as a photographer, both creative and in a business sense, Bramley says,‘Enthusiastic, driven, a perfectionist - and having fun on shoots. And I have no fear in contacting someone if they haven't called me for work or if they haven't paid me, which is more the case these days.

‘I have learnt that photographers who are at the top of the genre are dedicated to the point of extremity.They have worked so hard to get were they are, and continue to do so. London is the sort of place that encourages extreme dedication. In Sydney there are so many lifestyle distractions.'

Like most Australians, Bramley finds many British people stand-offish. ‘They are also painfully polite, and service is generally abysmal. And most things are a lot more expensive even if you earn pounds. But the work and travel make up for the drawbacks. I'm really settled now, and I can't see a time when I will want to go back to Sydney. Which is a bit scarey.'


See Photo Review magazine Issue 14 for the print edition of this profile which includes additional images.

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