Bradley Quinn (born 1976) is a commercial photographer based in

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He is the principal photographer of Northern Irish bands

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

and Cashier No. 9. He is younger brother to

Jonny Quinn Jonathan Graham Quinn (born 26 February 1972) is a Northern Irish musician, best known as the drummer for alternative rock band Snow Patrol, and was previously a member of bands like The Mighty Fall, The New Brontes and Disraeli Gears. As drumm ...

, the drummer for Snow Patrol. He started his own business, Bradley Quinn Photography in 2005. He does commercial, wedding and music photography, and uses the Sony alpha camera systems

Early life

Bradley Quinn was born in 1976 in Bangor, younger brother to

. His aunt is actress Patricia Quinn and cousin Debbie Armstrong, wife of former

assistant manager Gerry Armstrong. He was introduced to photography at an early age by his father, and started doing amateur work using the

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and ph ...

in their house. When attending

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Campbell College Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a ...

, he took up photography as a subject for his Arts

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

. He then attended Belfast Institute to study A level photography. During his years at the Institute, he was picked by in-house photographer Geoff Hannon. It was his first job, which he did for six months. He had plans to attend university, but decided to take an opportunity to work under a commercial and advertising photographer. He worked for ten years and finds the experience "invaluable"; apart from film developing and location lighting, he learnt to deal with finance and marketing.

Music photography

Quinn started to photograph bands his brother Jonny was in, confident one of those would make it. He photographed bands like The New Brontes, Skintflint and Watercress, among other more major bands who were touring at the time. He used to work for free, and sent his shots to the local press. Working with music journalist

Colin Harper Colin Harper (born 1968, in Belfast) is an Irish non-fiction author and composer. Background Harper was born in Belfast and graduated in Modern History 1989 from Queen's University, Belfast, later acquiring a postgraduate diploma in Information ...

, the duo's work got exposure in local newspapers and magazines. He has said its difficult to survive on music photography alone, as there are not enough music related publications in Northern Ireland. During his student years at Campbell College, Quinn had a classmate in

Gary Lightbody Gareth John Lightbody (born 15 June 1976) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has also founded the musical supergroups The ...

. Lightbody was later in a band

Shrug A shrug is a gesture performed by raising both shoulders, and is a representation of an individual either being indifferent about something or not knowing an answer to a question. The shoulder-raising action may be accompanied by rotating the pa ...

when he was studying in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and Bradley had told Jonny about him. When Shrug needed a drummer, Jonny moved to Dundee to join the band, which marked the beginning of

. Bradley began shooting them and felt a "good feeling" about the band, and decided to "chart their history". He photographed Jonny in five bands before Snow Patrol and also worked with Northern Irish band File Under Easy Listening; one of that band's members was

Nathan Connolly Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life Connolly, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, sang for a ...

, who later became a member of Snow Patrol. Since the band is friends with Quinn, they are comfortable having him around. He gets access to the stage when the band play, shoot the band relaxing backstage or working in the studio during album recordings. He is trusted enough to edit and select photographs that are to be sent out or uploaded, without consulting the band. His shots of Snow Patrol appear on the band's official website. His favorite songs are "

Run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

" and "

If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It "If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It" is a song by alternative rock band Snow Patrol. It is the opening track on their fifth album '' A Hundred Million Suns'', and was released as its third single on 8 March 2009. The music was composed by Snow Patro ...

", as the on-stage dynamics provide him the best opportunities to take artistic shots. Apart from his work with Snow Patrol, Quinn is the principal photographer for Belfast band Cashier No. 9.

Other work

He is based in

, and started his own business, Bradley Quinn Photography, in 2005 where does commercial and wedding photography. His work with Snow Patrol led to his first exhibition, called "

Crack the Shutters "Crack the Shutters" is a song from alternative rock band Snow Patrol's fifth album '' A Hundred Million Suns''. It was released as the follow-up single to " Take Back the City" on different dates in December 2008 depending on the region, and wa ...

" in July 2009. It was held at the

Waterfront Hall Belfast Waterfront is a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corpo ...

during the

Trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film ...

festival in Belfast and continued till the end of the month. It showcased 45 images spanning the band's life and two canvasses, one of which was made of 3,000 of his photographs of Snow Patrol. Cashier No. 9 played at the launch of the exhibition. The exhibition was held for three days again (from 7–9 December 2009) at the same venue as Snow Patrol toured in Belfast. He intends to do the exhibition in more venues around the United Kingdom.

References

External links

*
Gallery at SnowPatrol.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Bradley 1976 births Living people Photographers from Northern Ireland Snow Patrol People from Bangor, County Down