Get to Know: Brian Maranan Pineda

Brian Pineda is working on his above-platinum status for airmiles - he just spent most of the summer traveling around Southeast Asia on a wing and a prayer, and the travel gods answered his devotion with thousands upon thousands of images to edit.  Some real gems in there - but last we heard the jet lag started to kick in and he was asleep on his keyboard. Do you remember your first big shoot on your own?  Tell me a little about how you were feeling... Hmm.. My 1st "real" shoot. I was in my 3rd year of assisting, I just got back from backpacking for a month in Thailand, just hanging out and taking pictures there. When I came back I posted the images on my website,  and had sent out an e-promo blast to about 20 travel magazines and thought nothing else of it. A week later I was on a job assisting, shoveling my lunch down in the motorhome, my phone rings, but I really don't have time to answer. I then listen to the voicemail and it's the American Airlines in-flight magazine, American Way, asking me if I'm available to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina to shoot a travel story for them. That was my 1st professional photography "holy shit!" moment. How did it feel shooting my 1st real job? INCREDIBLE. What is your idea of a dream vacation?  And is there a camera involved? A year long tour around the world (impossible, but a dream).  Is there a camera involved... Ha! It wouldn't be anywhere nearly as interesting  without one. So I would bring 2.