What I've Been Up To Lately!

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone's Christmas and New Year's were off the chain! Mine was incredibly packed, but definitely excellent. It has been a loooong while since my last post, and a lot has occurred since then, so with no further ado, let's jump right in!

My plan for this post is to cover very briefly what I've been up to the past couple months. No, I have not been on photography hiatus; quite the contrary! I've actually been busier than ever and my shutter finger is buffer than ever before. It has been a set of months defined by variation, new toys, and new experiences behind the camera. I'll get into all of that shortly, but for a quick explanation, I'll be showing just a small snippet (awesome word!) of 7 different shoots or jobs I've done over the past little bit. There will be more to come, so depending on the responses through comments, e-mails, or facebook messages, we'll see which shoots I'll do a full post on!

Ok, so to get this show started, I've got a few photos from a wedding I helped shoot quite a few months ago. It was a super rad wedding in a full-blown, Western-themed plot of land. Jen and Nate were totally stunned by each other and I was stoked to be part of this incredible day. I could post a thousand photos from this wedding, but I'll stick with three.

*(note: to enlarge pictures, just click on them. To size them once clicked on, hold down ctrl button and press + or -)*

-Sweet, right!? That "saloon" behind her was incredible inside. This is right before they brought in the horses for a chance in front of the camera...no, I'm serious. :) -

-Totally diggin' the red and black.-

And now, for something completely different.
As most of you know, I work as the staff photographer for an incredible LA-based company
called Skyline Locations. Basically, I photograph high-end locations in Downtown Los Angeles for use in the Film and Television industry. I've been blessed to have this job and work with these awesome people for about the last 2 years. I typically do one to two shoots per week, depending on the week. It is excellent practice and a great way for me to hone my non-people/artistic/detail/composition skills. Steady jobs and photography rarely go together, which is one of the many reasons this job is so excellent...I get to increasingly hone a skill week in and week out, plus, I get to stand on the roofs of skyscrapers and stuff on a regular basis! Haha. It's a good life!

*Photo by Bethany Van Hofwegen*

Anyway, I recently photographed the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It was one of my more exciting days in that I was surrounded by people taking pictures of the same, gorgeous building I was...the only difference is that I was getting paid to do it! Talk about doing what you enjoy! I remember years before taking photos of these buildings with the same passion as I do now, even though this is my job. Here are a few from that shoot and a couple others:







I hope you enjoyed just a very, very little taste of my location work. There's A LOT more where that came from! Check out the Skyline site for more of my work (SkylineLocations.com).

Now, I mentioned new toys in the first paragraph. As much as I enjoyed my old equipment, I needed something just a bit more professional. I could tell that I was reaching the capacity of the camera and lenses I was working with, so I decided to upgrade. And guys, I upgraded! Haha. In November, I purchased my new primary tool, a Canon 5D Mark II. This camera is incredible. It is a full-frame, 21 megapixel camera that takes pictures crisper that anything I could have imagined. I got a couple lenses also (24-70 2.8 'L' and 70-200 IS 2.8 'L', for you lens aficionados out there). I mention all this because, within one week of getting this camera, I had what was probably my most busy week of photography ever.
Friday: Engagement Session/ Saturday: Wedding/ Tuesday&Thursday: Skyline Shoot/ Saturday: Concert/ Sunday: A Musical.
Craziness!
I wont show all of the photos taken that week, not even all of the shoots, but we'll catch the highlights.

FRIDAY:
Amber and Aaron are about the most fashionable a couple can be. They are both super rad people and I was stoked to get the chance to do some engagement photos for them. It always is so fun and easy taking pictures of such a photogenic, good-looking couple...every photo seems to turn out excellently! It was a good experience to do a magazine fashion-type engagement session, it gave me a bit more control than I'm usually used to for this type of shoot, but Aaron and Amber were so laid back and had so many great ideas, it made for an excellent day. We did three different "vibes" (as I like to call them): The first being a vintage-y, bright colored vibe; the second being a hippie-ish/elf in Rivendell type of feel; and the third was a request from Amber to get inspired by the vibe from Vanity Fair's Twilight movie shoot. I didn't see the movie, but I think the shoot got pretty darn close to the feel! Here they are:

1) Vintage:
2)Elvin Forest...just think, Rivendell.

3) Vanity Fair Twilight-Vibed



SATURDAY:
Saturday I took photos for this very sweet concert called "True Religion" that was held in Claremont. It raised money to build an orphanage in Kenya, and I was so excited to be able to volunteer my time to support such an incredible cause. There are few things better than using the gifts you've been given and thoroughly enjoy using, to help others who thoroughly need it (see my Belize post!). If anyone needs a photographer for a good cause, there is a large chance I'll make a serious discount or even volunteer for free to help the cause, just keep that in mind! There was some excellent music and excellent company, here are a few captures from that night:




-And one of my favorites from the night:-

SATURDAY (Previous):
If you guys look back one post, you'll see some engagement shots of an excellent couple named Andrea and Blake. All of the chemistry shown between these two in the engagement session just exploded at the wedding! It was an impactful wedding with some great moments, here are just a few!

*Look at that chemistry...and absolutely candid!*





-Blake closed out the party with some good ole' Rock N' Roll. He shredded!-

And for a final little bit, I went recently on a trip to the East Coast: Boston, New York, a stop in Baltimore, and Washington DC. There will for sure be a post on this trip coming up (once I get the photos all edited!), but for now, I figured I'd just touch on a few things.

We set up a stop in Baltimore so I could do a shoot of Rebecca, an incredibly sweet french horn player at Peabody Conservatory. Baltimore was gorgeous, and my favorite part was shooting in this ginormous library that the Beauty and the Beast library was actually inspired by. It was incredible to have free access to a room of such magnitude. Anyway, here are a few of Rebecca!




Awesome library, eh? Now, this post is already quite long, so I'm going to just whet your appetite for my East Coast photos with 1 photo from each location. Here we go:

WASHINGTON DC:
*US Capitol at night. Notice the Halo. Ironic?*

NEW YORK:
*Carving in front of famed Chrysler Building*

BOSTON:
*Taken from the North Bridge in Concord where the "Shot Heard 'Round The World" was fired*


I hope you all enjoyed this little snapshot into my life over the past couple months, and I hope you enjoyed the variation as much as I did! Like I said, I will be happy to post more of any of these shoots, just send me lots of facebook messages or e-mails or comments to let me know which one(s) I should get on next! Thanks again for viewing my work, your support means a lot!

Stay Classy Los Angeles!
Brandon