Bruce Rae trained as a photographer at Birmingham college of Art between 1963- 64 and then, in the early 70's attended the Royal Collage of Art; after which he sought commercial work.

He went into artistic photography by mistake whilst teaching himself to use a light meter; using flowers as a subject. He then spent a number of years producing black and white images of flowers. The ideas behind the photographs stem from Rae's interest in birth, life and death. The link with the flowers is their short life span, their vibrance and their decay. In his early work he photographed flowers as a celebration, but they all have a sense of "momento mori". Only using black and white he detaches himself from the subject and is able to create images that are warm, sensual and quiet.

As his work progressed it took on a deeper stance, he created darker, richer tonal prints; his images became a minimalist, floating world where the flowers came to represent sensual images of mortality and decay. Their excellence lies in their peculiar luminosity which seems to emante from the flowers themselves. He is quoted in saying, "I am interested in the point at which things emerge from the darkness into the light and then disappear again; in the narrow span of existence between life and death."

Rae has a simple approach to his work; his living room becomes his studio and laying the object onto black velvet, using natural light and long exposures, the change and movement within his subject becomes apparent. The stillness of each petal, each stem helps us understand how the plant has developed and has become so beautiful. His ability to create perfect negatives from which to print from shows a knowledge and understanding of his materials which, married with his sense of shape and form, join to create such exquisite prints. Despite the repetion of his subject matter: flowers,such as poppies, lillies, shells and now butterflies and moths, the diversity of his photography is extraordinary, perhaps because his images are not about pure visual concepts, but are about personal thoughts.