Brandon Rossen Brandon Rossen has always been drawn to photography. “There is something intrinsically intimate and romantic about capturing a moment,” he says. Lately, this is an area he has been seeking to explore, to think less about elaborate shoots and Photoshop, get closer to the moment, and shoot just because he loves it.
Although he took a class in traditional darkroom photography during high school, he only started getting serious once he figured out exposure on his DSLR. “And that is really how I taught myself photography; put it in manual, then shoot, ‘chimp’, adjust, rinse and repeat,” he says. He cites his photographic inspirations as Brad Trent and Gregory Heisler, for their captivating use of light in their photography.
These days, Rossen shoots for a variety of commercial clients, such as Swear Words and BWS, and his photos have been published in the Good Food Guide. He is currently working on two projects that reflect the different directions that he’s pulled in – both from a creative and a professional standpoint. One is a series of portraits of street artists, shot in the studio, each one involving days of planning and production. The other is a black and white series, shot from the hip, of found moments on the street. “I enjoy the black and white project the most, as it is such a movement away from the kind of photography that I associate with ‘working’; instead it is much more about capturing a moment with my camera, which is really what drew me to photography in the first place,” he says.