Bryan Loftus BSC was born in 1942 in Ellon, Scotland. After leaving school in the 1960s, he worked on the Union-Castle shipping line, circumnavigating Africa several times. Whilst visiting the city of Aden, he purchased a cheap stills camera and took up photography. Inspired by the works of the French humanist photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, he planned to pursue a photographic career, but was eventually drawn to towards cinema.
Bryan applied to a newspaper advert for a messenger boy at Columbia Pictures, based at 142 Wardour Street, Soho. He got the job and often covered reception, where he met many starts who were visiting London at the time. The job didn't qualify him for union membership so he joined Technicolor as a negative cutter and after several months, answered a union advertisement for a position at Shepperton Studios.
Whilst at Shepperton, Bryan was encouraged by Wally Veevers BSC, the head of the special effects department, who introduced him to the magic of moviemaking. He began working on special photographic effects, tests, matte paintings and explosions. It was here he met Stanley Kubrick, who was shooting Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb!.
Bryan went on to work on Thunderbirds, a show with a very young crew and lots of explosions to create.
During the 1970s Bryan became a Documentary cameraman on the shows such as World In Action and 60 Minutes before morning on to shoot films such as The Company of Wolves. He also worked in the field of commericals and music videos working with artists including Madonna and The Cure.