You’ve probably seen Jack Bridgland’s work in the last year, if by some miracle you haven’t heard of him yet. Crafting a solid and recognisable aesthetic and applying it to editorial, personal and campaign photography and direction, the London-based creative has shot the likes of Rosalia and Robert Pattinson, as well as creative campaigns for major fashion houses such as Mugler.
Bridg(land)ing the world of fashion, art and music, Jack originally hails from Surrey, but spent his weekends travelling up to London after learning the fundamentals of how to operate as a photographer from a peer a few years older than him. Producing a strong portfolio of portraits around London, one of the biggest tools in his early career was social media: reaching out to figures he wanted to photograph online, and seeing what came of it. “A lot of people don’t know you’re there until you say hello” Jack noted in a Nicer Tuesdays talk. “Or show passion and positivity towards them, which makes it easier to shoot or collaborate with them”.
From there, he travelled to NYC and on to LA, where he began to develop his style further: experimenting with energy, props and direction and working with up-and-coming creatives who propelled his work to a wider audience. Inspired by the always-vivid and highly saturated colours that LA proliferates as well as his love for childhood cartoons, Jack’s fascination with colour seeped through into his work: taking it from the outside in.
Juxtaposing a harsh white studio setting with pastel and neon infused colour bleeds, Jack continued to develop his unique aesthetic that he has become so known for. Hitting his stride, things sped up when soft-blue light shoot which contrasted ‘healthy and unhealthy’ practices went viral on Instagram – catching the eye of Robert Pattinson who asked for Jack to shoot his wildly successful GQ cover. Continuing his relationship with the publication, we saw Rosalia become a redhead under his direction, and Jack Bridgland developing a new visual language which encompassed complete narratives, broadened concepts and a healthy injection of colour.
In the brand world, brands such as Nike, Kappa, Mugler and Playboy have tapped the photographer to produce campaigns and imagery for them, buying into his aesthetic that was going from strength to strength and redefining the fashion image landscape. It’s not hard to see why his work is everywhere, either: his thorough understanding of person, place and lighting combined with a forward-thinking and conceptual approach to each project has ensured that every frame could have easily have come from a movie as from his studio camera.
Jack Bridgland’s work takes the parts of nostalgia and childhood hazes that we didn’t even know we missed, and updates it with the best of modern fashion, elevated post-production, and instinctual creativity.
