Brian Morrison RIP

[Peter Sarf]

Seems Brian Morrison passed away on 30/04/2023. For those who don't know he was a prolific photographer and I think I recall his name in credits in many publications.

Link

Brian played a significant role in establishing and the production of Railway Herald, and his passing leaves a big hole in the team. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family, who have lost a father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

His was a name that spanned the generations, with his first picture being published in 1951, across almost every British railway magazine to have been published. He embraced digital photography with avengeance and it was only a reduction in mobility in 2013 that brought his photography career to an end.

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[TT-ONR-NRN]

I’ve seen his name credited for pictures many times in Modern Railways. Shame to hear of his passing.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I’ve seen his name credited for pictures many times in Modern Railways. Shame to hear of his passing.

Yes. Brian Morrison quite possibly had photographs published in almost every issue of Modern Railways for decades on end. Maybe less often in his last ten years or so.

 

[12LDA28C]

An excellent photographer who had many books published, some of which are in my collection such as 'The Power of the Class 31s', 'The Power of the 37s', 'The Power of the 47s', 'The Power of the AC Electrics' and 'Profile of the 47s' to name just a few.

 

[Gloster]

He must have been one of the most prolific railway photographers, if not the most prolific. His photos could be found in just about every magazine, but he seemed to be particularly popular with the Ian Allan group.(I believe that he also had a full-time job running a sports centre, or something similar.) One of those utterly familiar names for many years.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

A sad loss.

 

[Cowley]

An excellent photographer who had many books published, some of which are in my collection such as 'The Power of the Class 31s', 'The Power of the 37s', 'The Power of the 47s', 'The Power of the AC Electrics' and 'Profile of the 47s' to name just a few.

Those books are still great to read. A sad loss but what a wonderful long life doing the thing he loved.

 

[Merthyr Imp]

According to my records there was an article about him in the Railway Magazine for October 2001 but I haven't dug it out to have a look.

 

[satisnek]

This is indeed sad news. I've probably got several of his books in my collection. It's also sad to hear that he had to give up photography in 2013 - was digital imaging technology was fully mature by then?

One magazine in which he never seemed to appear, together with the other 'big names' in BR era photography, was Traction, at least in its early years (I stopped buying it after the 200th issue). No doubt there were reasons (possibly political) for this.

 

[Peter Sarf]

This is indeed sad news. I've probably got several of his books in my collection. It's also sad to hear that he had to give up photography in 2013 - was digital imaging technology was fully mature by then?

One magazine in which he never seemed to appear, together with the other 'big names' in BR era photography, was Traction, at least in its early years (I stopped buying it after the 200th issue). No doubt there were reasons (possibly political) for this.

I think he took to digital imaging early on. His mobility by 2013 at age 83 was restricting his forays, only hope I am as agile as him by then !.

 

[12LDA28C]

This is indeed sad news. I've probably got several of his books in my collection. It's also sad to hear that he had to give up photography in 2013 - was digital imaging technology was fully mature by then?

Absolutely. I bought my first digital camera in 2003 and earlier adopters would have invested before that.

 

[satisnek]

Absolutely. I bought my first digital camera in 2003 and earlier adopters would have invested before that.

My employer had an expensive Casio digital camera in 1999/2000 but it wasn't any good - one point something megapixels, OK for webpages but not much else. When I said "fully mature" I basically meant "at least as good as 35mm and therefore a universal replacement for it". I envisaged Brian sitting at home reading about the latest digital camera tech but unable to go out and make use of it, which wouldn't have been much fun for him.

 

[12LDA28C]

My employer had an expensive Casio digital camera in 1999/2000 but it wasn't any good - one point something megapixels, OK for webpages but not much else. When I said "fully mature" I basically meant "at least as good as 35mm and therefore a universal replacement for it". I envisaged Brian sitting at home reading about the latest digital camera tech but unable to go out and make use of it, which wouldn't have been much fun for him.

Capabilities of digital SLR cameras were certainly well-enough developed to replace film cameras by 2003, the Canon EOS 10D of that year had 6.3 megapixels and the EOS 20D from 2004 had 8.2, as did the professional-grade EOS 1D MkII. The full-frame EOS 5D came out in 2005 and had 12.8MP, Brian I'm sure was still pretty active with photography at that time.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Capabilities of digital SLR cameras were certainly well-enough developed to replace film cameras by 2003, the Canon EOS 10D of that year had 6.3 megapixels and the EOS 20D from 2004 had 8.2, as did the professional-grade EOS 1D MkII. The full-frame EOS 5D came out in 2005 and had 12.8MP, Brian I'm sure was still pretty active with photography at that time.

I had read that Brian was an early adopter of digital photography.

 

[Taunton]

Brian Morrison quite possibly had photographs published in almost every issue of Modern Railways for decades on end.

I'm pretty sure I saw him described there at least once as 'staff photographer', and he not only pictured trains but also took photos of rail personnel at formal events, openings and awards, etc. However, Ian Allan hardly had any actual salaried staff for their various publishing endeavours, they seemed to run almost wholly on freelances for their contributions.