David Bradford (photographer)

David Bradford is a New York street photographer and maker of videos. He became known in the 1990s when he combined his graphic skills with a job as a taxi driver. Since then he has published two books of his photographs.

Life and career

Bradford was born in Flint, Michigan[1] in 1951.[2] As a teenager he enjoyed dance and playing the trombone.[3] After graduating in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1978,[4] Bradford moved to New York and worked for ten years for Saks Fifth Avenue. He then left Saks to work freelance, and from 1990 started to drive a taxi to supplement his income.[5][6]

Bradford particularly enjoyed photographing in the rain and snow: "There is more drama when the umbrellas are out and people's faces are scrunched up."[7]

At first, Bradford took photographs from the taxi as material for his illustrations; but from 1993 he was taking photographs for their own sake. His first book, Drive-By Shootings, sold 50,000 copies within months.[5][6]

A review in The New York Times compared Bradford's photographs with those by the then mayor Rudy Giuliani, saying of Bradford's:

[H]e often includes a steering wheel, side mirror or windshield wipers, constant reminders of his relationship to the city. . . . [T]he windshield and side mirror frame what Mr. Bradford calls New York's "separate realities". . . . In Mr. Bradford's world, it's usually a dark and stormy night and you follow your nose or your hood ornament.[8]

For The New York Taxi Back Seat Book (2006), Bradford pointed the camera backwards rather than outside.[5][6]

Bradford later turned to making 15-second videos from the front seat of his taxi.[5][6]

In 2014, Bradford was described as having retired from driving a taxi "a few years ago".[7]

Exhibitions

  • New York City blasts, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York City, 17–22 December 2005.[9][10]

Books

  • Drive-By Shootings. Photographs by David Bradford, text by Gerhard Waldherr. Cologne: Könemann, 2000. ISBN 3-8290-2891-1.
  • The New York Taxi Back Seat Book. Photographs by David Bradford. New York: Daab, 2006. ISBN 978-3-937718-85-9.

References

  1. ↑ "Drive-by shootings (New York City)", Zoxx gallery. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "David Bradford: New day, New York", Fotogalerie De Kleine Klup. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "David Bradford: Back seat", Zoxx gallery. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Profile of Bradford, Rhode Island School of Design. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Be on the lookout for cabbie and photographer David Bradford", New York Moment, Newyork.com, 19 July 2013. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 17 August 2013. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Aline Smithson, "David Bradford: New York moment", Lenscratch, 27 October 2013. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  7. 1 2 Harrison Jacobs, "20 breathtaking photos taken from behind the wheel of a NYC taxi cab", Business Insider, 3 February 2014. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  8. ↑ Sarah Boxer, "Critic's notebook; A mayor's empire and a cabby's turf", New York Times, 7 May 1998. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  9. ↑ "Drive by shootings: NYC movies in 15 seconds", Jack Shainman Gallery. Accessed 11 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "Drive by shootings: NYC movies in 15 seconds", Jack Shainman Gallery. Accessed 11 March 2017.
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