Biography

Little Charlie Parker, the tearaway son of her neighbours in East London’s Victoria Park area, was the inspiration for one of Linda Brownlee’s favourite personal projects. “He would always be throwing stuff at our front door, and generally being a scamp. But he was so cute, with a skinhead and these great big eyes, that I asked his mother if I could take some pictures of him.” The project snowballed, and soon, “I was photographing the whole family, taking them on little trips to the park and stuff. I did sometimes ask myself, ‘what on Earth is going on here?’ But they loved it and the pictures looked great.”

Describing photography as “a brilliant excuse to get to know new communities”, the story of The Parkers is a perfect example of Brownlee’s approach to taking pictures. Gravitating towards portraiture, “I like to spend as much time with my subject as I can,” she says. “It’s about the relationship that develops. I ask a lot of questions. If you can distract somebody into talking about themselves, they begin to really express who they are.”

A native of County Kildaire, just outside Dublin, Brownlee didn’t know she wanted to be a photographer until she began working on a small portfolio of pictures as part of a diploma in fine art. A stint working in a local studio led to the decision to come to London “and just see what happened.” She began assisting portrait photographer Harry Borden and following his advice started to get a body of work together – to just keep shooting. As luck would have it, an old school friend from Dublin, Celestine Cooney, had recently moved to London to work with the stylist Nicola Formichetti on the fashion desk at Dazed & Confused, “and we started doing lots of little bits and pieces together”.

Her personal projects, have led Brownlee to photograph marginalised communities in her native Ireland and the teenagers of Achill Island, a popular holiday destination on the Irish west coast. Asked to describe her style, there is a long pause. A self-confessed storyteller, “I’m not looking for total drama,” she contradicts. “It’s the little nuances. I like calmness, subtle moments. When somebody stops talking, the awkward silences can be really interesting too – if you just let them be, and see what happens.”

www.lindabrownlee.com

Clients include

ASOS
Anthropology
Blackbook
Canon
Case Da Abitare
Dazed
Elle Deco
GQ
Guardian Weekend
Interview
Jalouse
L'Officiel
L'Optimum
Mr Porter
Nowness
Nike
Nylon
New York Times
Observer Magazine
Philips
The Rig Out
Russian Vogue
Stella
Sunday Times Style
The Telegraph Magazine
Times Luxx
Twin
Vodafone
Virgin
Vodafone
Vogue Nippon
Wall Street Journal