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Reclamation | The Leica ZM2 Monochrom

A meditation on time and intention with a focus on the art of a deliberate life. Shot entirely in monochrome, the film invites us to slow down, step away from distraction, and return to what feels meaningful. It is a meditation on presence and on reclaiming what may have been forgotten amid the constant pull for our attention.

Starring: @joshuaneall & @krisyim

Poem and VO by @alex_elle

Cinematography @aajayiiii

Produced by @xavier.rernard

Steven Spielberg moments after his nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Theatrical Feature Film for the @directorsguild DGA Awards 2023. (Los Angeles, Ca -2023) #thefablemans#leicam11

Lighting Tech @iamshooter
Photo Assist @arthurgallery
Producer: @michaellatt

Steven Spielberg moments after his nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Theatrical Feature Film for the @directorsguild DGA Awards 2023. (Los Angeles, Ca -2023) #thefablemans#leicam11

Lighting Tech @iamshooter
Photo Assist @arthurgallery
Producer: @michaellatt

I am so incredibly excited to finally announce my debut book “Migration Patterns” with @setantabooks — pre-orders are officially available today.

Setanta Books has announced “Migration Patterns,” the debut book by San Francisco-born photographer Brandon Ruffin. The book explores the lasting influence of Southern Black culture in Bay Area cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, stemming from the Great Migration.
As a descendant of Louisianans who moved west, Ruffin uses photography to reflect on how culture is carried on through legacy, memory, and ritual. The book, which includes a poem by Enjoli Flynn-Ruffin and an essay by @ogpenn Pendarvis Harshaw, serves as a lyrical meditation on migration, home, and lineage. It considers not only physical relocation but also the spiritual transitions between life and death.
Ultimately, “Migration Patterns” is a vital contribution to contemporary Black photography, documenting a cultural story with intimacy and care.

Link is in bio #migrationpatternsbook

I am so incredibly excited to finally announce my debut book “Migration Patterns” with @setantabooks — pre-orders are officially available today.

Setanta Books has announced “Migration Patterns,” the debut book by San Francisco-born photographer Brandon Ruffin. The book explores the lasting influence of Southern Black culture in Bay Area cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, stemming from the Great Migration.
As a descendant of Louisianans who moved west, Ruffin uses photography to reflect on how culture is carried on through legacy, memory, and ritual. The book, which includes a poem by Enjoli Flynn-Ruffin and an essay by @ogpenn Pendarvis Harshaw, serves as a lyrical meditation on migration, home, and lineage. It considers not only physical relocation but also the spiritual transitions between life and death.
Ultimately, “Migration Patterns” is a vital contribution to contemporary Black photography, documenting a cultural story with intimacy and care.

Link is in bio #migrationpatternsbook

I am so incredibly excited to finally announce my debut book “Migration Patterns” with @setantabooks — pre-orders are officially available today.

Setanta Books has announced “Migration Patterns,” the debut book by San Francisco-born photographer Brandon Ruffin. The book explores the lasting influence of Southern Black culture in Bay Area cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, stemming from the Great Migration.
As a descendant of Louisianans who moved west, Ruffin uses photography to reflect on how culture is carried on through legacy, memory, and ritual. The book, which includes a poem by Enjoli Flynn-Ruffin and an essay by @ogpenn Pendarvis Harshaw, serves as a lyrical meditation on migration, home, and lineage. It considers not only physical relocation but also the spiritual transitions between life and death.
Ultimately, “Migration Patterns” is a vital contribution to contemporary Black photography, documenting a cultural story with intimacy and care.

Link is in bio #migrationpatternsbook

I am so incredibly excited to finally announce my debut book “Migration Patterns” with @setantabooks — pre-orders are officially available today.

Setanta Books has announced “Migration Patterns,” the debut book by San Francisco-born photographer Brandon Ruffin. The book explores the lasting influence of Southern Black culture in Bay Area cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, stemming from the Great Migration.
As a descendant of Louisianans who moved west, Ruffin uses photography to reflect on how culture is carried on through legacy, memory, and ritual. The book, which includes a poem by Enjoli Flynn-Ruffin and an essay by @ogpenn Pendarvis Harshaw, serves as a lyrical meditation on migration, home, and lineage. It considers not only physical relocation but also the spiritual transitions between life and death.
Ultimately, “Migration Patterns” is a vital contribution to contemporary Black photography, documenting a cultural story with intimacy and care.

Link is in bio #migrationpatternsbook

I am so incredibly excited to finally announce my debut book “Migration Patterns” with @setantabooks — pre-orders are officially available today.

Setanta Books has announced “Migration Patterns,” the debut book by San Francisco-born photographer Brandon Ruffin. The book explores the lasting influence of Southern Black culture in Bay Area cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, stemming from the Great Migration.
As a descendant of Louisianans who moved west, Ruffin uses photography to reflect on how culture is carried on through legacy, memory, and ritual. The book, which includes a poem by Enjoli Flynn-Ruffin and an essay by @ogpenn Pendarvis Harshaw, serves as a lyrical meditation on migration, home, and lineage. It considers not only physical relocation but also the spiritual transitions between life and death.
Ultimately, “Migration Patterns” is a vital contribution to contemporary Black photography, documenting a cultural story with intimacy and care.

Link is in bio #migrationpatternsbook

I am so incredibly excited to finally announce my debut book “Migration Patterns” with @setantabooks — pre-orders are officially available today.

Setanta Books has announced “Migration Patterns,” the debut book by San Francisco-born photographer Brandon Ruffin. The book explores the lasting influence of Southern Black culture in Bay Area cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, stemming from the Great Migration.
As a descendant of Louisianans who moved west, Ruffin uses photography to reflect on how culture is carried on through legacy, memory, and ritual. The book, which includes a poem by Enjoli Flynn-Ruffin and an essay by @ogpenn Pendarvis Harshaw, serves as a lyrical meditation on migration, home, and lineage. It considers not only physical relocation but also the spiritual transitions between life and death.
Ultimately, “Migration Patterns” is a vital contribution to contemporary Black photography, documenting a cultural story with intimacy and care.

Link is in bio #migrationpatternsbook

In a time
where exclaiming you are an artist
becomes more of an art form
than the art you are creating—
one must ask,
“What makes a thing “art”?”.
At this point,
I only want to make things
that make me feel.
I wish to exist in a superposition.
I wish to be both
in awe of the rarity of time
while also denying its existence.
Make me a particle,
make me a wave….
make me
and then unmake.
I just wish to feel.
Sometimes I want to feel loudly
and sometimes I want to feel
at the height of a whisper—
so quietly
it can hardly be measured.
If I am all things—-
then I must be no thing,
and to be nothing
sounds like the only freedom
that exists in the universe.

In a time
where exclaiming you are an artist
becomes more of an art form
than the art you are creating—
one must ask,
“What makes a thing “art”?”.
At this point,
I only want to make things
that make me feel.
I wish to exist in a superposition.
I wish to be both
in awe of the rarity of time
while also denying its existence.
Make me a particle,
make me a wave….
make me
and then unmake.
I just wish to feel.
Sometimes I want to feel loudly
and sometimes I want to feel
at the height of a whisper—
so quietly
it can hardly be measured.
If I am all things—-
then I must be no thing,
and to be nothing
sounds like the only freedom
that exists in the universe.

In a time
where exclaiming you are an artist
becomes more of an art form
than the art you are creating—
one must ask,
“What makes a thing “art”?”.
At this point,
I only want to make things
that make me feel.
I wish to exist in a superposition.
I wish to be both
in awe of the rarity of time
while also denying its existence.
Make me a particle,
make me a wave….
make me
and then unmake.
I just wish to feel.
Sometimes I want to feel loudly
and sometimes I want to feel
at the height of a whisper—
so quietly
it can hardly be measured.
If I am all things—-
then I must be no thing,
and to be nothing
sounds like the only freedom
that exists in the universe.

In a time
where exclaiming you are an artist
becomes more of an art form
than the art you are creating—
one must ask,
“What makes a thing “art”?”.
At this point,
I only want to make things
that make me feel.
I wish to exist in a superposition.
I wish to be both
in awe of the rarity of time
while also denying its existence.
Make me a particle,
make me a wave….
make me
and then unmake.
I just wish to feel.
Sometimes I want to feel loudly
and sometimes I want to feel
at the height of a whisper—
so quietly
it can hardly be measured.
If I am all things—-
then I must be no thing,
and to be nothing
sounds like the only freedom
that exists in the universe.

In a time
where exclaiming you are an artist
becomes more of an art form
than the art you are creating—
one must ask,
“What makes a thing “art”?”.
At this point,
I only want to make things
that make me feel.
I wish to exist in a superposition.
I wish to be both
in awe of the rarity of time
while also denying its existence.
Make me a particle,
make me a wave….
make me
and then unmake.
I just wish to feel.
Sometimes I want to feel loudly
and sometimes I want to feel
at the height of a whisper—
so quietly
it can hardly be measured.
If I am all things—-
then I must be no thing,
and to be nothing
sounds like the only freedom
that exists in the universe.

Some fun work with @renegade_running for the @nikerunning x @swarovski release. Always a good time with @leena_ds and @hey_miya

Some fun work with @renegade_running for the @nikerunning x @swarovski release. Always a good time with @leena_ds and @hey_miya

Some fun work with @renegade_running for the @nikerunning x @swarovski release. Always a good time with @leena_ds and @hey_miya

Some fun work with @renegade_running for the @nikerunning x @swarovski release. Always a good time with @leena_ds and @hey_miya

Some fun work with @renegade_running for the @nikerunning x @swarovski release. Always a good time with @leena_ds and @hey_miya

Some fun work with @renegade_running for the @nikerunning x @swarovski release. Always a good time with @leena_ds and @hey_miya

I love it for what it is and not what it could be.

I love it for what it is and not what it could be.

I love it for what it is and not what it could be.

I love it for what it is and not what it could be.

The only new variable we bring to this equation called existence is ourselves.

@clara.rene
#leicaM

The only new variable we bring to this equation called existence is ourselves.

@clara.rene
#leicaM

Really beautiful to see the distance this work has traveled. Like the people, the stories, and the culture explored in this body of work, Migration Patterns finds a new home in Washington. Today at 2pm we will showing be the this work at @leicastorebellevue —can’t wait!! Copies of my debut book, Migration Patterns, will be available and signed at the gallery during today’s opening.

Really beautiful to see the distance this work has traveled. Like the people, the stories, and the culture explored in this body of work, Migration Patterns finds a new home in Washington. Today at 2pm we will showing be the this work at @leicastorebellevue —can’t wait!! Copies of my debut book, Migration Patterns, will be available and signed at the gallery during today’s opening.

Really beautiful to see the distance this work has traveled. Like the people, the stories, and the culture explored in this body of work, Migration Patterns finds a new home in Washington. Today at 2pm we will showing be the this work at @leicastorebellevue —can’t wait!! Copies of my debut book, Migration Patterns, will be available and signed at the gallery during today’s opening.

Really beautiful to see the distance this work has traveled. Like the people, the stories, and the culture explored in this body of work, Migration Patterns finds a new home in Washington. Today at 2pm we will showing be the this work at @leicastorebellevue —can’t wait!! Copies of my debut book, Migration Patterns, will be available and signed at the gallery during today’s opening.

Really beautiful to see the distance this work has traveled. Like the people, the stories, and the culture explored in this body of work, Migration Patterns finds a new home in Washington. Today at 2pm we will showing be the this work at @leicastorebellevue —can’t wait!! Copies of my debut book, Migration Patterns, will be available and signed at the gallery during today’s opening.

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

Home of the brave. #leicam3 #50mmsummicron

What does poetry look like?

I want to find it in everything I see—to feel it, to breathe it. If I cannot create it, then I choose not to create.

A world without poetry does not spin. Even if I cannot write the words, I still want to feel them in my soul: in my life, in my connection to the world, in the way I describe a sunrise or a heartbreak.

To live is to be submerged in the painfully visceral—but life is often so literal.

Without that layer of abstraction, without symmetry or purpose... I might find it all to be indeed too unbearable.

What does poetry look like?

I want to find it in everything I see—to feel it, to breathe it. If I cannot create it, then I choose not to create.

A world without poetry does not spin. Even if I cannot write the words, I still want to feel them in my soul: in my life, in my connection to the world, in the way I describe a sunrise or a heartbreak.

To live is to be submerged in the painfully visceral—but life is often so literal.

Without that layer of abstraction, without symmetry or purpose... I might find it all to be indeed too unbearable.

What does poetry look like?

I want to find it in everything I see—to feel it, to breathe it. If I cannot create it, then I choose not to create.

A world without poetry does not spin. Even if I cannot write the words, I still want to feel them in my soul: in my life, in my connection to the world, in the way I describe a sunrise or a heartbreak.

To live is to be submerged in the painfully visceral—but life is often so literal.

Without that layer of abstraction, without symmetry or purpose... I might find it all to be indeed too unbearable.

Your heart is the only scale upon which you can truly weigh success in any medium.

I used to imagine triumph through the eyes of a child. I envisioned the loud markers of arrival: the intoxicating pull of being known, a studio loft breathing in New York or Paris, the quiet reverence of collectors, my life’s work hanging on a gallery wall.

Now, the metric has changed.
I measure success by the precision of my authenticity—my ability to catch a fleeting idea or a heavy emotion and render it as clearly and truly as possible.

It is the courage to sit within my feelings and let them speak. To express them with truth—my truth. With love—my love.

To pour out my pain and offer up my soul.
Ultimately, I measure success by my relentless commitment to the excavation.

It is the act of examining my spirit, pulling it from my chest, and laying it bare on display. Over and over again.

Because the process, in all its raw vulnerability, is what completes me.

📷 slide 1 and 4 @aajayiiii

Your heart is the only scale upon which you can truly weigh success in any medium.

I used to imagine triumph through the eyes of a child. I envisioned the loud markers of arrival: the intoxicating pull of being known, a studio loft breathing in New York or Paris, the quiet reverence of collectors, my life’s work hanging on a gallery wall.

Now, the metric has changed.
I measure success by the precision of my authenticity—my ability to catch a fleeting idea or a heavy emotion and render it as clearly and truly as possible.

It is the courage to sit within my feelings and let them speak. To express them with truth—my truth. With love—my love.

To pour out my pain and offer up my soul.
Ultimately, I measure success by my relentless commitment to the excavation.

It is the act of examining my spirit, pulling it from my chest, and laying it bare on display. Over and over again.

Because the process, in all its raw vulnerability, is what completes me.

📷 slide 1 and 4 @aajayiiii

Your heart is the only scale upon which you can truly weigh success in any medium.

I used to imagine triumph through the eyes of a child. I envisioned the loud markers of arrival: the intoxicating pull of being known, a studio loft breathing in New York or Paris, the quiet reverence of collectors, my life’s work hanging on a gallery wall.

Now, the metric has changed.
I measure success by the precision of my authenticity—my ability to catch a fleeting idea or a heavy emotion and render it as clearly and truly as possible.

It is the courage to sit within my feelings and let them speak. To express them with truth—my truth. With love—my love.

To pour out my pain and offer up my soul.
Ultimately, I measure success by my relentless commitment to the excavation.

It is the act of examining my spirit, pulling it from my chest, and laying it bare on display. Over and over again.

Because the process, in all its raw vulnerability, is what completes me.

📷 slide 1 and 4 @aajayiiii

Your heart is the only scale upon which you can truly weigh success in any medium.

I used to imagine triumph through the eyes of a child. I envisioned the loud markers of arrival: the intoxicating pull of being known, a studio loft breathing in New York or Paris, the quiet reverence of collectors, my life’s work hanging on a gallery wall.

Now, the metric has changed.
I measure success by the precision of my authenticity—my ability to catch a fleeting idea or a heavy emotion and render it as clearly and truly as possible.

It is the courage to sit within my feelings and let them speak. To express them with truth—my truth. With love—my love.

To pour out my pain and offer up my soul.
Ultimately, I measure success by my relentless commitment to the excavation.

It is the act of examining my spirit, pulling it from my chest, and laying it bare on display. Over and over again.

Because the process, in all its raw vulnerability, is what completes me.

📷 slide 1 and 4 @aajayiiii

Latest work for @toddsnyderny with the amazing @sirmichaelwayne filmed on the #LeicaSL3

Director: @ruffdraft
Styling/wardrobe: @sirmichaelwayne
Editor: Brando Ruffin
Sound: Brandon Ruffin
Color: Brandon Ruffin
Producer: Olivia Kirby