Brian Brake (1927–1988) was a New Zealand photographer.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, John Brian Brake was the adopted son of John Samuel Brake and his wife Jennie Brake (née Chiplin). He was raised at Arthurs Pass, where his father owned the General Store, and Christchurch, where he attended Christchurch Boys' High School. His early interest in photography was inspired by his Aunt, Charlotte (Tot) Brake, and his cousins Isabel Lewis Marriott (Bufton) and Margaret Lewis McDonald (Bufton).
Brian Brake trained with Spencer Digby from 1945. He joined the National Film Unit in 1947, and directed the film Snows of Aorangi in 1950.
He left New Zealand for London in 1953, meeting Ernst Haas, John Morris and Henri Cartier-Bresson, who invited him to become a member of Magnum, which he remained a member of until 1967. He worked as freelance photographer in Europe, Africa and Asia until joining Life magazine in 1958, contributing work to Paris Match.
He is best known for his work 'China' series, (where he was allowed an unusual level of access), his photos of Pablo Picasso at a bullfight and his 'Monsoon' series of photographs taken in India during a sabbatical from LIFE during 1960.
Brake used Aparna Sen as the model for what was to become one of his most well known photographs from the Monsoon Series — a shot of a girl holding her face to the first drops of monsoon rain. The photo shoot was set up on a Kolkata rooftop with a ladder and a watering can. Sen describes the shoot
He took me up to the terrace, had me wear a red sari in the way a village girl does, and asked me to wear a green stud in my nose.
To be helpful, I said let me wear a red one to match, and he said no — he was so decisive, rather brusque — I think a green one. It was stuck to my nose with glue, because my nose wasn't pierced.
Someone had a large watering can, and they poured water over me. It was really a very simple affair. It took maybe half an hour.[1]
In 1965 Nigel Cameron and Brian Brake published Peking - a tale of three cities, which was dedicated to John Brake. In 1967 Brian 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 the Zodiac Film Unit in Hong Kong.
In 1976 he returned to New Zealand. Using the architectural talents of Ron Sang, Brake constructed an East Asian influenced architectural award winning house on Titirangi's Scenic Drive, in the Waitakere Ranges to the west of Auckland, where although he continued to accept freelance assignments abroad, he lived with his life partner, Wai-man Lau, for the remainder of his life. In 1985 he helped establish the New Zealand Centre for Photography.
Brian Brake died of a heart attack in 1988.
Brake was careful to retain his negatives wherever possible. His large collection of work is now housed at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and forms The Brian Brake Collection.
The Brian Brake Memorial Award is a major award in New Zealand photography.
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