We recently connected with Brianne Keefer and have shared our conversation below.

Brianne , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

More than anything, I want people to remember my vulnerability and openness. I feel like a lot of my work is closely related to darkness, emotion, and our inevitable end and I want people to feel comfortable about that. There is so much allure to the drama of the human experience and I hope my photography and writing inspires people to lean into that seduction. We get one shot at this, and I hope people realize that for that reason we have to connect with the darker parts of ourselves, we have to learn how to feel as deeply as possible and lose all shame surrounding our humanness. I want my photos, my poems and my stories to hit people in that sweet spot, where they feel connected, inspired, and willing to let go of the illusion of control.

Brianne , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born and raised in Colorado, so I have constantly been surrounded by beauty. It would’ve been foolish to not pick up a camera and begin taking photos. I started as a landscape photographer. I spent a lot of my time hiking and wanted to capture how incredible Colorado is. From there, I fell in love with people and the tiny details of them that would surface in photos so I moved into portrait photography. I have always loved things that were spooky or haunted so I then began a series exploring haunted places in Colorado and taking photos inspired by the stories surrounding these areas. In between all of this, I have been writing poems, short stories, and am currently working on a novel. I feel like something that sets me apart is my deep love for these projects I do. Not much of what I do is monetized, it is solely to create something beautiful and collaborate with fellow creatives in the area. I want art to be accessible, I want normal people to feel like they can be models, and I want people who’ve never written before to realize they have the ability to do so. I am incredibly proud of the Haunted Colorado series and the Lore and Legends series I did. I worked alongside various Colorado creatives to make these photos come to life and they all turned out so incredible.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Getting to have this incredible outlet for emotion. I have always romanticized everything about life and death, so being able to take these photos or write these stories is cathartic. Everything I do is directly related to the beauty I see in the world, the people surrounding me, and the stories that have been told through the years. I am deeply connected to my art and it is the truest representation of myself.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Do it because you want to and that’s it. It will never matter how much money I make or how “successful” I become on my creative journey, I just want to do it. Of course, being able to do what I do as my main career would be lovely, but I wont ever stop creating regardless. We, as a society, get so caught up in the money and business side, we often lose our desire to create. We are connected to this earth, we were born to create, to move and to capture the essence of life. I will always find a way to make ends meet and I will always find a way to create, those two things do not have to be synchronous.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @bbrillynn

Image Credits

Brianne Keefer