Tim Bradley Art

Tim Bradley is both a teacher and a photographer. He earned his BFA and MFA degrees in photography from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. For 4 years he looked and photographed. His interest was aesthetic at first and was inspired by the unexpected beauty of his surroundings and the color photography emerging during the 1970s. But soon he realized that he was also documenting a fragile corner of southern California that would soon be overwritten. Bradley made prints from about 100 negatives and put everything into storage for 30 years. Come 2010, he brought some of the negatives at Lumiere Editions in Burbank to Chip Leavitt. Chip prints for John Baldessari, Richard Misrach, William Eggleston, and other photographers. He began the process of scanning and restoring digitally the negatives, breathing life into them. His weekly drive to Lumiere takes him on a freeway over the neighborhood where he once shot. The distant memory he sensed long ago has turned out to be my own. In the 4 years, he photographed in a neighborhood that had an uncanny visual presence. The contemporary suburban life, ancient bungalows, outdated cars, and postwar apartments made the place look like its history was not known. Bradley often felt that he was engulfed in a virtual space rather than aiming at a subject, just as if he had stumbled onto a stage set or into someone else’s memory. In 1991, he was appointed chair of photography at Art Center, and he served as for nine years then he left to open his freelance studio where he completed projects for Oprah, Fortune, Esquire, The Advocate, and other editorial clients. Today, framed Tim Bradley art are much sought after by many discerning collectors.