In a time before the internet and dial up modems could deal with images of any decent resolution and when music was the biggest thing in my life, my exposure to new photographers was through pictures on record covers and in music magazines. One of the covers that stuck in my head was Q and Not U’s No Kill, No Beep Beep. I saw Shawn Brackbill’s name in the credits and have followed his exploits ever since. Shawn subsequently shot all of Q and Not U’s album covers and has gone on to shoot many great artists for legendary record labels including Matador and Sub Pop. Most recently, his photographs can be seen on the cover of Kurt Vile’s latest record Smoke Ring for my Halo. He has also shown diversity in his work with moving into fashion and video, yet still maintaining his quiet, simple and above all human approach to his subjects.
