BRADLEY QUINN - SNOW PATROL: 25 YEARS IN PICTURES
12/02/2020
I have been following the photographic career of Bradley Quinn for almost as long as I have been his drumming brother Jonny. I remember him putting a portfolio together of photos of Belfast’s finest mid 90s artists like Iain Archer, Brian Houston, Ursula Burns, Disreali Gears and the New Brontes.
I even got lucky myself. One afternoon Iain and Jonny were short of a bass player for a press photo and I joined the band for a 5 minute photo shoot! It is framed on top of my CD shelves!
As I have followed Iain Archer’s career and Jonny’s with Snow Patrol I have so enjoyed seeing Bradley’s camera work on videos and photographs.
So, I was thrilled to see that for the 25th Anniversary of Snow Patrol Bradley had produced a coffee table sized book of some of those photographs.
It is better than that. It is a near perfect visual history of the band. Being a friend of the band has not only given Bradley access but also longevity. In Snow Patrol: 25 Years in Pictures you get an array of different faces of Gary Lightbody, from the short hair to the beard to the long hair. You also get the changes in band personnel. It’s a celebratory history.
Fans will love this collection. Here are the photographs that your smartphones cannot dream of catching. Bradley’s friendship gives him access that few professional photographers can dream of. There are angles in studio and stage that are unique to him and then the candid shots when a band has a photographer in their faces without them even realising.
Of course intimate access is one thing but good photos is quite the other. The good news is that Bradley Quinn can take a photograph and whether it is Main Stage or tour bus or the band just having a back stage laugh, Quinn has catalogued the 25 years of Snow Patrol in as creative and artistic way as the music.
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