Brian Griffin

Brian Griffin (born 13 April 1948) is a British photographer. His portraits of 1980s pop musicians lead to him being named the "photographer of the decade" by The Guardian in 1989. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Arts Council, British Council, Victoria and Albert Museum and National Portrait Gallery, London. Early life Griffin was born in Birmingham on 13 April 1948. He grew up in Lye, a town in the Black Country, an area of the British Midlands, and attended Halesowen Technical School. At age 16, he began working in a factory as a trainee draughtsman. He spent the next few years working in engineering for the British Steel Corporation, first making conveyors and later manufacturing and installing pipework in nuclear power stations. After joining a local camera club, Griffin studied (along with contemporaries Daniel Meadows, Peter Fraser and Martin Parr) photography at Manchester School of Art, which became part of Manchester Polytechnic whilst he was there and from which he graduated in 1972. Career After college, Griffin moved to London to work as a fashion photographer. At the recommendation of Lester Bookbinder he instead took a job as a corporate photographer for the London-based business magazine Management Today, and later other publications, including Accountancy Age, Computing, and Marketing. His 1974 photograph "Rush Hour, London Bridge" brought him national recognition; a print is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. By the 1980s, Griffin had become known as a corporate photography expert. His first solo show was in London in 1981. Around this same time, Griffin began working in the music industry, landing his first music gigs with Stiff Records. His work shooting businessmen translated well to many of the groups of the time who also dressed in suits and ties, such as The Jam and Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Over the next few years, he photographed such as acts as Depeche Mode, R.E.M., Iggy Pop, Ringo Starr, and Peter Gabriel. His work appeared on many album covers of the era, notably that of Depeche Mode's A Broken Frame, often cited as one of the best color photographs ever shot. The photograph also appears on the cover of Lifes 1990 edition of "World's Best Photographs 1980–1990". His work appeared in publications such as Esquire (US), Rolling Stone, Radio Times, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, and Car.