St. Louis Egotist Member: Brandon Voges

The St. Louis Egotist would like to introduce you to a fine fellow by the name of Brandon Voges. His stellar photography carries an honesty that captured our attention immediately. He is a leader at Bruton Stroube Studios of whom everyone in St. Louis should be aware. If this city had more talent like Brandon, we'd be well on our way.

What is your "go-to" camera (if you have one), the one you that is indispensable and has constantly surprised you with its ability?

I try not to nerd out on camera gear too much, but it's difficult. I have a nerdy nature, and right now, everything is changing so much, it's really exciting...so many shiny new toys to obsess over. For most of my still shoots, I use a Hasselblad H1 with a P45 digital back. It's a fantastic camera system, but not the most mobile (that thing is a tank)...99% of the time it is tethered to a workstation too, so it can be cumbersome when shooting lifestyle. On the other hand, the images from that system are fantastic. The lenses are great and the detail captured by the P45 is pretty amazing. For the motion work, we use Canon HD DSLRs and/or the RED ONE (a whole new nerd category). To the point of being surprised with a camera's abilities, the Canons (7D and 5DMKII) are pretty amazing...the sensors have made leaps and bounds in the last few years, the HD video is ridiculous and I love the ergonomics and mobility of them. My personal kit is a Canon as well, and I literally don't leave home without it. Love that thing.

Is there a particular photographic era (or genre) that you are most attracted to? Does your work push itself in that direction?

Definitely. I was on the agency side for 7 years before I moved into photography, and I really never thought of it as a career. I always had cameras and loved to take pictures, but to me, it was more about creating an image than "photography." They almost seemed like two different things (if that makes any sense). I loved exploring textures and abstract things, but my favorite pictures were always of friends and authentic moments involving people. There was something about capturing that split second of a laugh, or sneaking a shot of someone in a crowd that wasn't paying attention. More than anything, I was always drawn to those "real" snaps of life, the kind of images that would still be in your brain as a little snapshot even if you didn't have a camera. Or at least that's how my brain works. I'm also one of the only people I know of who dislikes Cheez-its, so maybe I'm just an oddball. Anyhoo, most of my business is lifestyle work (still or motion), but in the last few years I've been doing more food photography, which is an interesting challenge...it's a whole new creative problem to solve and I really enjoy it. I've also done quite a bit more animal photography recently, and that is always fun.

Explain your approach to motion and traditional photography. What are the similarities and differences to how you approach each medium?

It's funny how much traditional photography and the motion work are related. The transition from one to the other is pretty clean, you're just using your story telling ability, directing and vision in a different way. When shooting motion, I'm using 90% of the same tools I use for stills; just in a new format We have the production crew, space, the eyeballs for it...and now, the equipment and technology needed to produce the quality work we strive for is finally available. It's a pretty exciting time I think. Our clients have been requesting this from us for a while, so being able to offer this to them along with the still work is a great thing. This day and age, finding ways to be more efficient is always a bonus. A few months back, we hired full-time editor/director Tim Wilson to help kickstart our motion department. Collaborating with his experience and expertise has been a blast. We've produced some really nice work already, and I'm stoked to be able to show it (soon, I swear!)...we're dedicating an entirely new section of our website to our motion work (which is going to launch in a few weeks actually). Ok, enough of that sales pitch, I'm just giddy about it and excited about all the possibilities. It makes my brain want to explode, but I like it.