Bryan Adams has spent more than four decades showing that writing a song and making a photograph come from the same creative well.
He is known for music that has travelled across generations: the restless nostalgia of Summer of ’69, the plain-spoken devotion of (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, and the sharp edges of Run to You. Those songs built a career that still fills arenas. His photography, meanwhile, has developed along a different track, shaped by the same preference for clarity and directness.
That work now comes to Dubai’s JD Malat Gallery, where Adams is presenting #SHOTBYADAMS, his first exhibition in the Middle East.
“I'm interested in humans and their plight,” Adams tells The National, explaining his approach. “We see so much around us, some good some bad, and the ups and downs of life hit everyone differently. I’m interested in humans and their plight.”
Running until September 30, the Dubai exhibition features some of his best-known images, including those of model Kate Moss and singer Mick Jagger. These portraits are overlaid with coloured plexiglass – a technique he began experimenting with a few years ago.
“I thought it would be fun to present some of the photos in a more unusual way. It started with one and, once I saw it, it convinced me to do a series of them. Now it’s a thing that we always do.
“I’m not actually shooting through plexiglass, it’s just a layer added on and it’s interesting to choose the colour that best suits the photo.”
These portraits are not a sideline. Adams is an acclaimed photographer, having twice won Germany's Lead Award for portraiture – one of the country’s most prestigious honours for magazine photography – in 2006 and 2012 for his image of actor Mickey Rourke. In 2015 the Royal Photographic Society named him an honorary fellow.
His portraits of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are now part of the National Portrait Gallery in London. A self-taught photographer, he began in the late 1990s by documenting life on the road – candid shots of bandmates, crew and the grind of touring – before moving into editorial work for international publications.
Yet the creative process is the same whether suits in the studio or behind the shutter. “It’s all about creating something from nothing,” he says. “One moment you have a blank piece of paper, the next a song. It’s the same with photos. It’s magic.”
These moments of inspiration and empathy have also been captured in books. Wounded: The Legacy of War (2013) portrayed British servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with life-changing injuries – men with prosthetics, scars and wheelchairs. Homeless (2019) worked with a London charity to give visibility to those living on the margins.
That same lens shaped one of his most recognised commissions: a 2002 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, taken at Buckingham Palace for the monarch’s Golden Jubilee. The black and white image has gained new resonance since her death in 2022.
“There will never be anyone like her again,” he says. “It’s possible that with her passing we are entering a completely different institution and it remains to be seen how they will move that institution forward.”
Other portraits come from quieter encounters. During a shoot with British actress Helena Bonham Carter, Adams began by making her tea. Before the hair and make-up team arrived, he took a picture of her at ease with the cup in hand.
“I thought she looked great before the hair and make-up team did their bit,” he says. “I took a photo of her and her tea. It’s my favourite photo of her.”
These kind of moments reflect how he prefers to work. “Taking a photo is much like a conversation,” he says. “In fact it involves conversation. You can’t wait for the moment, it’s going to happen like all good chats.”
Adams hopes the Dubai showcase will produce a similar response – quieter than his arena shows, perhaps, but drawn from the same impulse. “I would just like them to enjoy what I saw once upon a time.”
#SHOTBYADAMS by Bryan Adams is showing at JD Malat Gallery, Downtown Dubai until September 30. Doors open 10am to 10pm.
