Hello! Thanks for stopping by the blog and having a look around. This blog is quickly becoming a job in and of itself and I’ve got to say that I’m loving every minute of it. There is no better way than this place to share my daily life with the world, my clients (past, present and future), and my family and friends. While I’m not big on talking about myself, I realize that you came to this page to find out more about me. So here we go.

My name is James Brandon and I’m a photographer living in Fort Worth, Texas. I can say with full confidence that I am married to the most beautiful, amazing girl in the world. Kristin is a photographer too and is always by my side during shoots. We have been married 3 three years as of June 10th and they have been a breeze.

So how did I become a photographer? Well, I have loved taking pictures since I was a kid. I would always get comments when I got my pictures developed that my images were above average and that I always had an eye for composition and what not. As time went on I started becoming more and more interested in it. Finally, I took a cruise to Mexico with my wife and family and we visited the Mayan ruins at Uxmal. After that trip, I was hooked. If you know me personally, you know that when I become interested in something, I go after it with everything I’ve got. Photography was no different. I instantly began the process of learning everything I could from anywhere I could get knowledge. Over the course of a couple years I spend hundreds of hours training in the field of photography, and with programs like Photoshop, Lightroom, Bridge, etc. I bought books, talked to other photographers, joins groups of other photographers, signed up for training courses, and just dove in head first.

Eventually I started looking for clients and started shooting family sessions and whatever else I could get my hands on. It got to a point where photography was taking up so much of my time that I could no longer handle my full time job at Bank of America. After going part time for about 6 months, I left my 9-5 banking job to pursue my dream of being a full time photographer. And the rest is history! While I struggle with the thought of pigeon-holing myself as one type of photographer, I can definitely say that I concentrate most of my time in the Destination and Local Wedding field as well as Travel and Landscape Photography. These two forms of photography keep my passion alive and growing each day. So lets dive a little deeper in to each.

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is going to be, maybe you should start setting up a life you don’t have to escape from.” – Dane Sanders

Wedding Photography for  the Discerning Bride

Why the discerning bride? Because there are a lot of brides out there (and people in general for that matter) that don’t understand the value of good photography on their wedding day. They just see it as a dollar sign, something else that is going to add to the cost of their wedding day. The fact is that after the music fades, after the flowers have wilted, after the thank you cards have been written, all that will remain besides your memory of that beautiful day will be your photographs. Do you really want to leave that to someone you got for a steal? Your wedding photographer is one of the most important decisions you will make for your wedding day. Whoever you choose, you need to do your research! Before you even look at price, look at their portfolio. And I don’t mean their website where they only post the best of the best of their images. Anyone can go to a wedding and get one or two good shots. Ask to look at an entire wedding from start to finish. This way you will be able to see if they are consistent, if they have an eye for composition, if they are creative, if they know their equipment like the back of their hands, if they can perform in low light conditions and still deliver incredible images.

My wedding photography style revolves around a few different forms of photography. I use a photo-journalistic approach to capture the unique feel and style of your wedding day. From getting ready in the morning, to makeup, to the first time the bride and the groom see each other. Candid moments have a way of capturing the raw emotion of the moment and preserving it forever. While candid moments are important, I also bring a fashion and fine art style to my images at times. These shots are a more planned out and sometimes involve more complex lighting situations and minimal posing. I also insist that any wedding I shoot have at least two photographer. I don’t charge any extra for this because I don’t offer packages with just one. Two photographers is vital to capturing every moment effectively. Usually, my second shooter is my wife Kristin. We work together all the time and she is scary good behind a lens!

I am completely confident that if you are a discerning bride who wants the best and knows where to look, that you have found the right place. If you would like information on booking us for a wedding, please submit a contact form, or you can almost always reach me at 817-366-0493. If you’d like to see some of my work before setting up a meeting, you can check the wedding or engagement section of my portfolio site.

HDR Travel and Landscape Photography | The other side of James Brandon Photography

Traveling set’s my soul on fire. I am in my element when I am away from home exploring new places. When I was knee high to a grass hopper, I would always try and take pictures of places I went with my little disposable camera. I’d get really excited about the shots I got and would take them to get developed as soon as I got home. What sucked was that every time I’d see the picture for the first time, I’d always be disappointed in the result. You hear it all the time, “Oh you just had to be there.” Well I don’t want to have to say that! I want to be able to capture a landscape or a scene in all it’s glory. I want to capture the exact emotions I felt when I stood in a barren field in Hawaii on the way to the rain forest. When the sun was peeking through the clouds shedding it’s beautiful morning light across the horizon.

Enter HDR (high dynamic range) Photography.

HDR photography is an emerging form of art that uses multiple exposures (or brightness levels) of a scene to capture the full range of light available to the human eye. You see, a normal camera doesn’t have the ability to capture the full range of light (or dynamic range) in most scenes. Take your typical post card from Hawaii for example: A scene of a beach with a silhouetted palm tree coming in from one side of the frame with the sunset properly exposed in the distance. While the image may look beautiful and appealing, this image is actually a result of the camera failing to capture all the light in the scene. There is too much contrast between the light levels in the sky behind and the tree in the foreground. When we look at the scene, our eyes adjust to changing levels of light. We can see both the palm tree and the details within it, as well as the sunset behind it. HDR Photography combines the light from the foreground and the background into one image, making an image that more closely resembles what we see with our eyes, and in our memories.

While I don’t use HDR in all of my travel photography, you will find that it is prevalent in most of it. I can’t look at a landscape image now without seeing it in HDR in my mind. My work has been featured in art galleries, as well as travel publications around the country. If you go to the popular links tab at the bottom you can purchase my travel images which are sold in limited edition prints of 50 each. I only release a very limited number of prints for sale; only the best of the best.