BRENDAN BROMFIELD – BIOGRAPHY
About
Brendan Bromfield is a professional photographer from Durban South Africa. He operates from his studio in Westville. His passion for photography started at an early age with his first 35mm film camera shooting seascapes while hiking the Wild Coast of South Africa. At high school he joined the photography club, learnt black and white printing and started his first photography business, taking and selling action sports photos. Brendan has always had a passion for the ocean, travel, nature and the great outdoors which reflects throughout his professional career.
Qualifications
Brendan has a 3 year National Diploma in Photography from Durban University of Technology. At the time, this was the highest rated Professional Photography course in South Africa, with state of the art facilities and lecturers being top Professional Photographers in their various fields. In a very competitive environment Brendan did consistently well to finish top of his year. The intensive three year course came just before the digital era, which gave him a very solid foundation in real film photography and printing. The new digital photographers of today don’t have the experience or understanding of traditional photography.
Brendan also completed a 3 year National Diploma in Marketing (IMM) from Durban University of Technology, giving him a good business background. With the onset of the digital era, Brendan did a 1 Year Diploma in Digital Graphic and Web Design. During this period he also spent a lot of time working with lithographers and digital printers to get a better understanding of the litho and digital printing industry. Brendan was based in Cyprus for 2 years and had the amazing opportunity of doing his Padi Dive Course (Specialising in Underwater Photography) with Chris Eliades, (BBC Underwater Filmmaker). Diving on a regular basis in the crystal clear waters of Cyprus he gained invaluable experience from Chris. This helped tremendously for future diving, being based in the Caribbean and Red Sea, Maldives and various Pacific Islands. Brendan attended Florida Primary school and Matriculated at Selborne College in East London. He did his 2 years National Service in the South African Navy, specialising in electronic warfare, being based in Simonstown, then Durban with various missions on Strikecraft.
Work History
Brendan worked with The Family Advertising Agency for two years and worked closely with various professional photographers directing advertising shoots. This was part of the job he enjoyed and applied for the 3 year National Diploma in Photography. Brendan worked for the well known Gerald Jacobson Studios in Cape Town and Robert Gorneman Studio in Durban. He then spent a further 4 years free lancing, specialising in advertising, food, tourism and commercial photography. Brendan has always had the passion to travel and spent the next 7 years travelling and diving around the world. Based in Cyprus for 2 years, Brendan worked as a photography manager on several cruise ships. He spent another 5 years travelling around the world and working as photo and video manager on various cruise liners. On returning to South Africa, Brendan setup his photography studio, with clients from all sectors. His passion for Wildlife photography started after being on wildlife excursions in Kenya and Tanzania. This has been an on-going passion with many excursions to Botswana, Zambia and local Game Reserves.
Clients
Over the years Brendan has done work for all types of clients, both local and abroad as well as numerous advertising agencies and many corporates: Sun International, Wild Coast Sun, Gooderson Leisure, Rhino River Lodge, Thuli Thuli, The Garden Lodge, Pekwa Lodge, MSC, Royal Cape Catamarans, Royal Charters, Africat, Fast Yachts, Powafix, SAB, Lanzerac, Sharks Rugby, Swimming SA, KZN Netball, CAT, Compass, Nestle, Clover, Durban ICC, Makula Events, Lever Bros, Lovemore Bros, Nedbank, Toyota, Mondi, Nampak, Power Fashion, Mr Price, Hyundai, Kia, Isuzu, Bidvest, Group 5, Phoenix Reisen, Liberty, Tman’s, CROW, SPCA, KZN Wildlife and many more.