Whether it was cruising in a patrol car, snapping photographs of whatever catches his eye, or just clearing his head, Brandon Ruffin has always found solace in the streets of the East Bay.
These days, when Ruffin takes to the sidewalks of Oakland, it’s likely with his trusty Leica camera in tow — seeking out stories and history in the faces of the people he encounters.
In recent years, the East Bay photographer has become known for his street photographs depicting the broad spectrum of people he encounters in his frequent walks.
“That became like a calling,” Brandon said, standing in a photographer friend’s apartment in Oakland. “I was like how can I give everybody their dignity with this camera?”
Ruffin’s street portraits lend a gritty elegance to his subjects — homeless, prostitutes, drug dealers among them. Anyone lining up in front of his lens gets the full respect of his intention.
“I was like ‘man, I want to be able to go out in the street, talk to somebody who has maybe been dealing with addiction for 10 years living out here in the street,’” Ruffin said. “And give them dignity and make them look just as beautiful as if I was shooting a model in the studio.”
Growing up in Richmond, Ruffin was tuned in to the realities of a community shouldering more than its share of crime and violence. While the area bred a natural suspicion of police, Ruffin dreamed of becoming one. He saw himself adding balance; a Black man in a Black community giving people a voice from the inside.
Even before he joined the forces of the El Cerrito and later the Richmond police departments, Ruffin had long been interested in art and had messed around with cameras.
“I was always attracted to photos,” Ruffin said. “I just never quite understood the art form to it.”
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His foray into street portraiture came from tragedy. He was on a call for El Cerrito P.D. when he came across a murder victim in an alley. He’d been shot in the face. Ruffin recognized the victim as his own cousin.
Through his grief, he took to the streets — walking long distances without purpose other than to soothe his mind.
“I spent a lot of time just wanting go out and be out on the streets,” Ruffin said. “Just walk, sort of talk to people who didn’t know anything about me, had no expectations about me.”
His connections to the people he met on his walks began to fuel his growing passion for photography. He started taking pictures of them and posting them to his Instagram page, under the moniker @Ruffdraft.
When a serious hand injury ended his police career after 12 years, Ruffin found himself behind the lens more than ever. Mostly, it was Black faces filling his shutter and his feed.
“I was in Black communities, and I’m a Black man coming from a Black community,” he said. “So those are the folks that I was mostly commonly interacting with and photographing.”
Through his love of photography and an easy penchant for conversation, Ruffin has since become one of the cornerstones of a new photo movement in the East Bay. He and friends collect photo books and camera gear, gathering to talk photography or to peruse historic images, aware that few of the photo books they collect feature the works of Black photographers.
“Most of us did not have somebody that looked like us that we could point to as ‘Alright I want to be that person,’” he said.
To further share the love of photography, Ruffin and some friends founded a monthly meet-up called Cameras and Coffee, where a growing group of photographers meet up at Kinfolx Coffee in Oakland to discuss gear, books and life.
During a recent gathering in January, the coffee shop’s backroom overflowed with photographers leafing through photo books, discussing preferred f-stops and snapping pictures of one another. Ruffin stood like a fulcrum amidst the crowd, easily chatting above the din with anyone within elbow distance.
“His photography is not independent of him as a human being,” said friend and fellow photographer Demondre Ward. “It’s special because he’s special.”
Ruffin hopes to serve as an ambassador of the camera, adding new heroes to the lexicon of photo history. With over 53,000 Instagram followers and several photo books to his name, he’s well on his way.
“I hope that there’s a kid from Richmond that looks at me and thinks a Leica belongs in their hand because they’ve seen me with one," Ruffin said.
