Being born and raised just an arm’s length from Hollywood, Brad (Bradford) Branson had developed a love of the high contrast black and white film noir style. At seventeen Branson arranged a “chance” meeting with movie legend, Gloria Swanson who offered the charming fan a part-time job as her personal assistant and projectionist. He went on to work in film editing as an assistant cutter before being hired at a top Hollywood photo lab where his appreciation of photography evolved meeting L.A.’s hottest photographers Greg Gorman, Herb Ritts, and Matthew Rolston. With his growing interest in all facets of photography he was soon taken under the wing of renowned photographer, Paul Jasmin who provided a valuable hands on education in portrait photography helping Branson hone his talent and develop a style of his own. It wasn’t long before he became a respected name among his peers and was added to the impressive roster of photographers of the prestigious photo agency, Visages alongside George Hurrell, Paul Jasmin, Herb Ritts, and Firooz Zahedi. By age 22 his portraits of celebrity and underground cult icons regularly appeared in magazines including Andy Warhol’s Interview, Vanity Fair, L.A. Style, and Rolling Stone. He also was granted the opportunity to photograph then rising star of the art world, Jean Michel Basquiat that same year.

Feeling creatively restrained working in the U.S, Brad moved to Amsterdam where he teamed with Dutch artist, Fritz Kok under the name, Indüstria. Their talent and originality attracted the attention of the highly esteemed photographic art journal, The Manipulator and their photo/collage Fashionism was selected for an upcoming cover. Indüstria was soon in hot demand with their work featured in international magazines including Blitz, Diva, The Face, Harpers & Queen, and European editions of Vogue. Their projects included shoots with top fashion designers John Galliano, Thierry Mugler, Jasper Conran, and Stephen Jones as well as an impressive list of the original “super models”, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. Marrying fashion and music, their album design credits included covers for Boy George, Marc Almond, Paul Rutherford, and Robert Palmer.  

After a dizzying and demanding few years Brad and Fritz decided to follow individual career paths and Brad continued photographing album covers for George Michael, including Fast Love, Heal the Pain, and Older, and was the behind the scenes photographer on both of Michael’s music videos, Freedom 90 and Too Funky and was chosen as the photographer of the official Vivienne Westwood portraits. Returning to Los Angeles in 1996, Branson changed course developing film and writing projects and ultimately traveling and photographing the landscapes of the southwest U.S.

This website is dedicated to preserving the legacy of Brad Branson.