Since his sudden death in 2012, a vast collection of work by U.S. born music and fashion photographer, Brad Branson has been archived and cataloged by his sister and heir to his estate, Jan Lane. It was a journey, both emotionally and physically, recovering the thousands of negatives and prints that were stored for close to two decades in a south London loft belonging to a close friend of Branson since his abrupt departure from the UK in 1996 at the height of his success there.

Ms. Lane, tapping into her early photography classes in high school, has taken on the monumental task of cleaning, scanning, archiving, and cataloging each of the negatives as well as preserving the hundreds of prints she acquired on her recent trip to the London loft as well as those contained in the five large cartons she arranged to have shipped by sea to her home in Huntington Beach, California. Lane described her motivation and passion for this project as a path towards moving through the grief of losing her brother and confidante. She explained that his work cannot and should not be put away to turn to dust, adding, “They are great photographs of an iconic time.”
Ms. Lane went on to describe the importance of gathering her brother’s work. “So many times over the years Brad would say how he really needed to get back to London and ship his things back to the U.S. I was always on him to do it because it was a risk leaving them for so long especially in the wet climate of a London attic. I also hoped it would be a catalyst for his return to photography.” It’s amazing how little damage there was to those negatives that had been exposed to the dampness all those years. After nine non-stop hours of painstakingly removing the molded edges of hundreds of negative strips, Lane suffered a worrisome cough for a couple of weeks from breathing the dusty residue.

As she worked, Lane is transported back to the early 1990’s listening to the cds Branson had stored amongst his work in the cartons, and remembered her brother in an abstract timeline. “There are many gaps of time when we lost touch, sometime lasting three years. I was busy getting married and traveling living an hour away in Orange County from our hometown of Los Angeles where Brad was working on his new photography career.”
In the early 1980’s Branson was enmeshed in a new position assisting renowned photographer, Paul Jasmin (“Jazz”) and learning the art of photo processing at one of the top photo labs in

Hollywood. He met esteemed and many soon to be successful photographers working at the lab such as Herb Ritts, Matthew Rolston, and Greg Gorman. At the young age of 22, Branson was a contributing photographer for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine shooting up and coming actors including Robert Downey Jr., David Duchovny, Richard E. Grant, Judd Nelson, Eric Roberts, Ally Sheedy, John Stamos, Eric Stoltz, and Mary Woronov while gaining more and more assignments taking photos of more established celebrities in the film and music world such as Joe Cocker, Terry Gilliam, Vanessa Redgrave, Rob Reiner, Tina Turner, and John Waters. Branson garnered a swiftly developing reputation as a noteworthy photographer with his inventive use

of shadows and light landing him jobs in the L.A. music scene shooting album photos for Belinda Carlisle, Nina Hagen, Los Lobos, Thompson Twins, The Untouchables, and Violent Femmes before his photo of David Lee Roth made it to the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1985 as well as a mention in Vanity Fair magazine.

Branson’s most memorable shoot of his favorite musical artist, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music was a coup which he recounted in his 1987-1988 journal. Though he wrote of his disappointment with the results of those photos, his conversations with Ferry during the shoot overshadowed any self-doubt.

Around this time Branson began an important relationship both personally and professionally with a very handsome Dutch artist and model, Fritz Kok. After a year or two living the fast life in Los Angeles with Brad, Fritz wanted to return home to Amsterdam and for Brad to join him. As he expressed in his journal, Brad was excited yet very anxious about leaving his life in L.A. but yearned to see the world and wanted to continue the great things he was creating with Fritz. They joined forces professionally, naming their company partnership, Indüstria, after seeing the name in iron scrollwork on an office front in Amsterdam. Fritz was an accomplished graphic artist and incorporated the technique of collage to Branson’s photographs. The results of their work were so unique that it wasn’t long before they were hired by top UK magazines including Blitz, The Face, Diva, Klik, Harper’s, and Vogue travelling on location throughout Europe and the former U.S.S. R. They were ecstatic when one of their photos was chosen for the cover the highly esteemed art journal, The Manipulator.
Branson and Kok continued with a frenzied work schedule including projects with fashion icons John Galliano, Thierry Mugler, Rifat Ozbek, Katherine Hamnett, Jasper Conran, and Vivienne Westwood. The chance meeting and longtime friendship of the former Wham! singer, George Michael at a late night club on a trip back to Los Angeles greatly contributed to Branson’s professional opportunities, and potential breakup of his relationship with Kok. Through Indüstria, Branson and Kok managed for a time, maintaining a long distance and mostly turbulent work connection after Branson relocated to the epicenter of the rock music scene, London.

The rise of his fame, as exciting and profitable as it was, can be compared to a rocket ship that lacked both a rudder and, more importantly, brakes. It was the time of drugs and over the top excess in the U.S. and in Europe. Brad indulged with notorious abandon and felt that it helped his creativity. Posthumously, his sister has heard and read stories she’d rather not but realizes it helps answer a lot of questions, especially how her brother could allow so much time between reconnecting with her. In the years just before mobile phones were commonplace, it took a chance encounter at a Beverly Hills hotel where

she ran into her brother, accompanied by George Michael, walking through the lobby where she and her husband, Scott, were attending a fundraiser. The timing was incredible. From that point, they stayed in touch for a longer than normal stretch. There were many photographs of her brother amongst the negatives that Lane continued to discover as she methodically moved through the hundreds of envelopes bearing names of projects for Robert Palmer “Addictions”, George Michael “Freedom 90” and “Too Funky”, Jon Bon Jovi, Boy George, British rockers Marc Almond, Paul Rutherford, Brett Anderson, and on and on. One thing she could not help but notice, or rather seems to flash in huge neon is the ubiquitous cigarette Branson has wedged so comfortably between his fingers or clenched between his teeth as he shoots a photo.

On December 5, 2012 Lane received a call from the a hospital in Hays, Kansas after a longtime friend of Branson now living together in an even smaller town in Kansas rushed him the three hours it took to get there because he was having troubling breathing. “My heart sank when I got the call. After so many years and so many times not knowing if he was dead or alive, Brad began the habit of calling me at least once a week and sometimes everyday over the past five or so years since he moved back to the U.S. The last times we spoke he would have to stop and I could hear him coughing up a storm. He assured me he would go to the doctor. Five days later he was gone.” Lane flew out and was able to see her brother, who shed tears when he saw his sister after six years but unable to speak with the life support tube in his throat. The doctor informed her of a massive small cell carcinoma surrounding his windpipe and portion of his right lung and held little hope for his recovery. “I don’t believe I will ever get the sight out of my memory seeing the once lively and energetic little boy I knew lying helpless and frail in a hospital bed.” I held his familiar hand until I knew he was gone. He was such a life force and could get anyone laughing and excited about whatever he was interested in. I miss him more than I can stand.”
It is with this pain and love that Lane continued the daunting task of preserving her brother’s life work and memory. “I am hoping to publish his work and perhaps have it exhibited worldwide. His photos captured so well, the times of the ‘80’s in L.A. and the ‘90’s in Europe from a fashion and music standpoint. What a great era it was, as his former partner, Fritz coined it, “Fashionism.”

Sadly, and ironically, Jan passed away February 3, 2023 of the same disease that claimed her dear brother Brad. Her husband Scott is carrying on the wishes of his beloved wife, to preserve the legacy of her brother, his talented brother-in-law, Brad Branson.

"…Fritz coined it,“Fashionism.””