My ongoing series of unfocused light from firework displays expands to motion.
Enjoy this video and take a look at the new additions to the Luminary print series.
All images are still limited to a total of 100 prints each.
15% of the proceeds go to loans on kiva.org, empowering entrepreneurs in the developing world to lift themselves out of poverty.
And you’ll also be supporting past and future independent photographic pursuits, including the latest Beyond The Reach: Death in the FLDS and a search for answers
Problems viewing video? Watch it on Youtube.
And below are some of the new prints available
after a few intense months of editing my masters thesis and writing a corresponding essay, i’ve finished the program and submitted the following project as my thesis. take a few moments to explore “beyond the reach”
All future wedding work will be featured on my new wedding-exclusive site: www.brettbuchananweddings.com
And wedding blog updates will only be available at: www.brettbuchananweddings.com/blog
This blog will still be updated with editorial, commercial, and independent photographic work.
Please add the wedding blog to your reader. Thanks!
The Knot Texas featured a recent wedding I photographed with Sharon Nicole in a 5 page editorial feature.
See the online story here.
Many thanks to my 2nd photographer Sharon for providing some of these great images and to the event planner Carmela Hartman for pitching the story. It was a beautiful wedding at The Wildflower Center with aspects of a traditional Chinese ceremony.
Following up on simplifying equipment, thanks to my fellow classmate Mark for pointing me to this article, Less Gear Equals More Enjoyment. Brian Auer speaks to National Geographic legend Sam Abell about his simple equipment approach to photographing.
And I love the comment from Rafael, sharing Sebastião Salgado’s wisdom that taking 100 images in 10 seconds was not photography but diarrhea.
within the last few months, i’ve shifted from primarily shooting with zoom lenses to shooting with two fixed lenses. and that’s pretty much all i prefer now when i shoot digital.. canon’s 24mm f/1.4 L and their 50mm f/1.2 L.
not only do i gain a simplified and expected perspective, but the images are tack sharp at 100% and have a quality of light and color that can’t be beat for this range of equipment. i used to load myself down with 2 heavy cameras with zooms and often would be fighting with my gear. i now have to physically move in and out a lot more but it keeps me and my eyes active and i like traveling light. i feel i can focus on the picture making process much more.
one of my professor’s in my master’s program, homer sykes, has frequently reminded me to slow down and not shoot like i’m handling a machine gun, to be more thoughtful and purposeful with my images. and i think the switch to fixed lenses has helped me do that. i don’t feel like i need to shoot every detail, interaction, etc. anymore. and visually, i’m giving myself a little more breathing room.
the switch to film has helped me slow down even more (partially because i pay a few dollars for each image in film, developing, and scanning) i should be getting the film back from the texas-mexico border shooting in the next two days and will share some of that shortly.
in the mean-time, enjoy two images from a recent wedding from my two favorite lenses
Canon 5D, Canon 24mm f/1.4 L:1/200 sec at f/2.0
Canon 5D, Canon 50mm f/1.2 L: 1/400 sec at f/1.8
I’ve been spending the last few days shooting an independent project on the border of Mexico, tying in to our masters program new group theme of “borders”.
I’ve joined the minutemen of Texas to document part of their October round up. It’s an interesting mix of people with a variety of motivations. The main event is night watches along the border, watching for travelers (aka illegal aliens) and reporting any findings to border patrol. It usually is a group of people sitting in the dark with walkie talkies, night vision, and beef jerkey until midnight.
The picture here is from my night vision from my current post.
I’ve been shooting this project entirely with a medium format range finder, the mamiya 6. It’s been an inspiring switch back to film, having to slow down, make each image count, and putting much more though into the whole image making experience.
I’ve also been doing some audio capture for the first time so I’ll hopefully be making a multimedia presentation soon.
It’s nice I can blog from my iPhone, maybe that means I’ll finally make more regular entries.
Well I’ve got another 3 hours on my post here so back to “protecting the border” I go.
the assignment for central college is to document their 6 european abroad sites, mainly for promotional usage. much of my shooting involves working with students at their universities, dorms, city areas, etc. here is a sampling from the first day in paris
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hard to believe it’s been over 3 months since an update.. apologies to any brett’s blog aficionados. it’s been a busy time of my life for a few reasons:
- I quit my job at the Austin Business Journal, as my freelance work continues to dominate more and more of my time
- I bought a house in Austin! and moved. it’s a tall modern box of a house and i’m enjoying being a homeowner so far, although it seems like another full-time job at times.
- I’m continuing my work and studies for my masters in photojournalism through the london college of communication
- i recently landed a contract for central college to photograph 6 of their european abroads over 3 weeks (paris, wales, vienna, granada, netherlands, and london)
i’m currently in granada and will share some images shortly.
so don’t fear, the updates will continue once again. stay tuned for some of my recent work and travels.
Happy New Year!
In the last week, I’ve been introduced to Dietrich Bonhoeffer two different times. First, I enjoyed Public Radio’s interview with documentary filmmaker Martin Doblmeier. He explored Bonhoeffer’s legacy as a theologian–a legacy that took on another dimension when he was imprisoned and executed for participating in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Then, my girlfriend’s brother and sister-in-law got me a compilation of his writings for Christmas.
I appreciate Bonhoeffer’s unshaken voice of faith and optimism in spite of the holocaust that surrounded him and the execution that awaited him.
And so I’ll end 2007 with these words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Surrounded by good powers, faithful and still,
wonderfully protected and comforted–
in this way I want to live these days with you
and go with you into a new year…Wonderfully secured by good powers,
we confidently await what may come.
God is with us in the evening and the morning,
and most certainly in each new day.
