About

On Assigment in Beruj Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip 2004

Over the course of my career I have had the privilege to work for some of the best and most professional news organisations on the planet, often in hostile environments and at the sharp end of the news gathering process. I have in the past decade, however,  shifted away from covering breaking news to telling the stories behind the headlines, the stories that get below the surface.

On assignment with AP – Uige, North-Western, Angola 1998

Stills Career

I began working as a journalist in the mid-1980s during the final years of the Anti-Apartheid struggle covering the waves of protest that finally led to the unbanning of the ANC and the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994. I worked as a stills photographer for various news agencies including The Associated Press (AP), Reuters and Agence France Press (AFP), ending my stills career as Chief Photographer for the AP in the Johannesburg bureau. For much of the 1990s I travelled across the length and breadth of Africa covering the various wars, famines and elections that dominated the news coverage of the era.

With Umar Bradlow at ANC Election Rally, Joburg 2005

The Switch to TV

Then in 1999 I quit AP and began working as a TV news cameraman first with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) where I won the CNN African Journalist of the Year competition (2000) with Jacques Pauw for a documentary called Children of War.  That  led to me being hired by CNN where I began an eight year stint as a fireman based out of London and Jerusalem, covering the aftermath of 9/11 and the Bush War on Terror, and winning an Emmy for my troubles. For nearly ten months of every year I was on the road for CNN providing breaking news coverage.

On assignment for CNN, Bel’in, West Bank, 2006

Freelance Career

After eight hectic years with CNN I went freelance working for a range of news channels including CBS News, Al Jazeera, Sky News, National Geographic Channel, Channel 4 News, APTN and China Central Television (CCTV) or as its called now, China Global Television News (CGTN). I am currently based out of Berlin where I operate my own production company called Digital News Productions (DNP), where I  offer my services as news and documentary director, cameraman- and editor  with a specialisation in hostile environments. 

Gallery

  • Funeral of ANC guerrilla Ashely Kriel, Cape Town 1986
  • Police Open Fire, University of Cape Town 1987
  • The Defiance Campaign, Ashton, South Africa 1989
  • Election Day Protests, Bishop Lavis 1989
  • Manning the live camera in Bagram, Afghanistan October 2001
  • On Assignent in Beruj Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip 2004
  • At a Hamas rally in Khan Yunus, Gaza 2003
  • Chatting to Nelson Mandela, Pretoria 1998
  • On Assignment with Ben Wedeman, Gaza 2005

I have specialised in working within hostile environments and have covered wars across Africa, Eastern Europe, South Asia and the Middle East.

Adil Bradlow