Bernie Brown

Long version

Principal photographer Bernie Brown

No matter what the subject – be it a Prince, a President, a Prime Minister or a picturesque landscape – her professional approach to photography has always been the key to Bernie Brown’s success.

She may have spent many years looking at life through the eyes of a lens, but what a life she has seen … and what a life it has been.

It has afforded her the opportunity to rub shoulders with the great and the good and to have taken photographs of top names from the worlds of popular music (Elton John, Cliff Richard, Westlife, Garth Brooks, Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Louis Walsh, Dolly Parton, Chris de Burgh), classical music (James Galway, Andrea Bocelli), sport (John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, The Harlem Globetrotters), politics (former American President, Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair) and of entertainment spectaculars like Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and the Eurovision Song Contest.

However, the best testimonial to the high standards of Bernie’s work is the fact that former President, Bill Clinton and his wife, Hilary, have one of her pictures in their collection and the headquarters of The Prince’s Trust in London bought one she had taken of Prince Charles in Belfast for its collection.

Bernie, who has always loved nature and landscapes from an early age, went to college to study photography as a hobby in 1989. Having attained her GCSE, she then achieved an A-level in photography … and she was hooked.

This passion for photography led to weekend work in a local newspaper and, having won many photographic competitions, she left a secure senior post with a major insurance company to follow her dreams and to become a professional photographer. 

Within two years of joining the Belfast News Letter, Bernie had been promoted to Senior Press Photographer, where she was responsible for many high-profile assignments, including the coverage of the Belfast visit by former American First Lady, Hilary Clinton, with Secretary of State, the late Mo Mowlam, the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome, Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee celebrations at a Hillsborough Castle Royal Garden Party, a cross community meeting with Irish President, Mary McAleese, at Aras an Uachtarain, a trip to England with the Royal Ulster Constabulary to meet their patron, the Prince of Wales, George Best’s funeral, the Belfast Tall Ships Festival and many International sporting events – Rugby, Football, Cricket etc – and for producing two pictorial calendars.

Since leaving the publication to become an environmental photographer, Bernie has been commissioned by the National Trust, Tourism Ireland and Strangford Lough & Lecale Partnership where her work has featured regularly in both regional and national media and in such international publications as Getty Images.

She launched her first major exhibition, The Life of the Lough ®, in 2010, touring it to America later that year. The work, about Strangford Lough,  proved to be so successful that it toured for over 2 years.

As someone who is as passionate about the environment as she is about photography, Bernie has combined both passions in an attempt to achieve her aims: “My desire is to capture those special moments and to share them by bringing nature and its beauty into people’s lives,” she says. “It is acknowledged that the beauties of nature have a therapeutic effect on all of us and it would be my wish that these pictures from my current exhibition, The Life of the Lough®, will have a soothing and comforting influence on all who view them.”

To Bernie, photography really does mean ‘painting with light’ and that is why capturing the environment and nature appeals so much to her. “It’s always changing” she explains. “I love the peace and calm, but also the angry and wild side with thunder, snow and storms.”

“I love dramatic skies – black, rainbows, sunbeams – the light and dark and the extremes that nature offers. You can feel the energy in Spring with its abundance of colour and smell, while other seasons have their own special characteristics. After Spring, everything starts to slow down. Long light Summer days before Autumn puts on a wonderful display of colour and everything finally settles down to sleep and rest for Winter.”

Although born and raised in the city, Bernie has been passionate about the countryside for as long as she can remember and finds she feels connected to it because of the sense of freedom that she gets when out walking in the wild. This provides her with an escapism that is always surprising and exciting. “When I go out roaming in the country, it is my safari as I never know what I am going to photograph. It can be anything from the smallest flower or insect to a buzzard, falcon or even Irish hares.”

Bernie obtained her Associateship Distinction with the Royal Photographic Society on 6th Sept 2011.

Check out Bernie’s exhibition The Life of the Lough®. For more information  CLICK

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