Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Brian Brake was the adopted son of John Samuel Brake and his wife Jennie Brake. He was raised initially at Doyleston, before his father moved the family to Arthur's Pass, where his father owned the general store, and Christchurch. His early interest in photography was inspired by his aunt Isabel Brake, who exhibited with the Christchurch Photographic Society, and several of his older cousins.
Brake trained with Wellington portrait photographer Spencer Digby from 1945. Three years later he joined Government filmmaking body the National Film Unit as an assistant cameraman. Brake worked on 17 films at the Unit, mostly as a cameraman, occasionally as a director. Though Brake's skills with studio lighting were utilised, the majority of his work involved the NFU's heavy diet of scenic shorts, including a series of 'snow' films Brake filmed in the Southern Alps. Snows of Aorangi,[2] one of three NFU films Brake directed, was the first New Zealand film nominated for an Academy Award, in the Best Short Subject (Live Action) category in 1959. It was beaten to the Oscar by James Algar's nature film Grand Canyon.
Brake left New Zealand for London in 1954. In 1955 he met Ernst Haas and Henri Cartier-Bresson, members of the photo agency Magnum Photos. This led to his acceptance as a nominee member in the same year, and full membership in 1957. He remained a Magnum photographer until 1967. He worked as freelance photographer in Europe, Africa and Asia until the mid-1960s, when he began working more exclusively for Life magazine.
His "Monsoon" series of photographs taken in India during 1960 were published internationally in magazines including Life, Queen and Paris Match. Brake used Aparna Das Gupta (now Aparna Sen) as the model for what was to become one of his best known photographs from the "Monsoon" series — a shot of a girl holding her face to the first drops of monsoon rain. The shoot was set up on a Kolkata rooftop with a ladder and a watering can.
In the same year as he shot "Monsoon", Brake also photographed in New Zealand. The images were published in the best-selling book New Zealand, gift of the sea (1963). The book remained in print for over a decade and was republished in an entirely new format and with different images, but the same title, in 1990.
In 1965 Nigel Cameron and Brake published Peking: A tale of three cities, which was dedicated to Brake's father, John Brake. In 1967 Brake and William Warren were commissioned by James Thompson to produce The House on the Klong, which was first published after the mysterious disappearance of silk merchant and former CIA agent James Thompson, in January 1968.
In 1970 Brake founded Zodiac Films in Hong Kong and made documentary films in Indonesia for the following six years.
In 1976 he returned to New Zealand. He commissioned an East Asian influenced architectural award-winning house designed by Ron Sang on Titirangi's Scenic Drive, in the Waitākere Ranges to the west of Auckland, where he lived with his life partner, Wai-man Lau, for the remainder of his life, although he continued to accept freelance assignments abroad. In 1985 he helped establish the New Zealand Centre for Photography.
In the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours, Brake was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to photography.
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Brian Brak or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Brian Brake |
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| Self Portrait |
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| Pablo Picasso, Son Claude and Jean Cocteau at a Bullfight Vallauris, France, 1955 |
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| Camel rider of the Aden 1956 |
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| Beijing 1957 |
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| Chairman Mao strolling outside his official residence Beijing, 1957 |
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| Jaipur, India 1957 |
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| China Premier Chou En Lai signing with Polish Premier Cyrankiewicz Beijing, 1957 |
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| Gathering dyed cloth on the banks of the Sabarmati River Ahmedabad, India, 1958 |
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| Beijing 1959 |
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| Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1959 |
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| Chairman Mao and Russian President Voroshilov at the airport Beijing, 1959 |
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| Chairman Mao, Ho Chi Min in the new People's Assembly Beijing, 1959 |
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| From the ‘Monsoon’ Series 1960 |
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| Jaipur, India 1960 |
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| From Monsoon Series: Crawford Market Mumbai, India, 1960 |
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| Fron the Monsoon Series: Rain 1960 |
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| from the Monsoon Series: Girl 1960 |
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| Skiers below Hochstetter Dome Tasman Glacier, Southern Alps, 1960 |
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| From the ‘Monsoon’ Series 1960 |
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| Film director Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune Tokyo, 1963 |
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| Milford Sound, Fiordland Taken for New Zealand, gift of the sea, 1963 |
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| Police training school Kuching, Malaysia, 1963 |
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| Sheep mustering Mount Possession Station, Canterbury, 1963 |
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| Turangawaewae, Ngaruawahia Taken for ‘New Zealand, "gift of the sea", 1963 |
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| Woman in Heian Period costume, Festival of the Ages Kyoto, Japan, 1963 |
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| Cheerleader at the Waseda University vs Kelo University baseball game Tokyo, 1964 |
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| Offerings To The Unknown Dead for Life Magazine, Kyoto, 1964 |
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| Tokyo fish market 1964 |
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| Sheep farm Otago, 1978 |
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| Mount Egmont Taranaki from Tariki 1978 |
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| Figure from a pou tokomanawa, probably from Taupo, Otago Museum, Dunedin Taken for ‘Art of the Pacific’, 1979 |
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| Castlepoint races, Wairarapa 1980 |
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| Nigerian Girl |
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| Queen Elizabeth, Nigeria |
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| Railway Tracks |
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| The Sydney Opera House |
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