Brett Buchanan Photography » updates

Japan Donation Gallery prints available

Brett — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:22:26 +0000

Six images photographed across Japan in 2005 with a Leica M3 are now available for print sales.
100% of the print proceeds from this gallery will go to the Red Cross. Open edition.

Or donate directly to the Red Cross here.

Luminary in motion

Brett — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:52:34 +0000

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

masters thesis

Brett — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:16:11 +0000

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”

New Wedding Site and Blog

Brett — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:49:14 +0000

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!

Published in The Knot

Brett — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:05:54 +0000

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.

less is more

Brett — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:15:18 +0000

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.

fixed on fixed lenses

Brett — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:34:51 +0000

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

In a tent down by the river

Brett — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:52:44 +0000

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.

paris on assignment

Brett — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:51:29 +0000

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

svgallery=paris2

overdue update

Brett — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:41:14 +0000

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.