Kip Brundage was born in Leesburg, Virginia, in 1953, but he spent the first four and a half years of his life in Venezuela, where his father was a railroad superintendent. A communist revolution made living there too dangerous for the family, and they relocated to Pennsylvania and ultimately back to Virginia, with prolonged stints in Mexico. In his junior year in high school, his older brother lent him a Canon 35mm camera; the rest is history. From the moment he saw his first print appear in the developer tray of the school darkroom, he never wanted another career other than photography. The Christmas of his senior year, his sister gave him a copy of a Greek Portfolio by Constantine Manos, and Kip was determined to become a documentary/magazine photographer.

In 1972 he drove the family car from Virginia down the “Pan American Highway” to his parent’s new home in Costa Rica. The revolution in Nicaragua was igniting, and he witnessed Somosa’s heavy hand. When he arrived in Costa Rica, he began a 5-year project of photographing the cane cutters and camposinos who were his neighbors. In Virginia, Kip showed these images to a neighbor and photographer, Dick Durrance II. Dick offered him a job as an assistant, which involved moving to the Coast of Maine, where he stayed for the next 30 years. After assisting Dick and becoming his production manager, Kip began to develop his client list while learning the ins and outs of magazine and advertising photography. He also became very involved in teaching at the Maine Photographic Workshops, the University of Maine, Augusta, and The College of the Atlantic.

Having had worldwide assignments from most significant magazines, managed major advertising campaigns, and photographed for annual reports for Fortune 500 companies, Kip has had broad experience as a location photographer. “I remember waiting to get my yellow boxes of Kodachrome back from the lab in the early days. It was like Christmas; I usually looked at them in the car driving home from the post office. Did I get the shot? That was the thrilling challenge and the payoff. I still can’t wait to answer that question.” says Brundage today. In 1989 he was selected as one of the best new talents by American Photographer Magazine. His images have been featured in Maine, Boston, New York, Washington, and Virginia museums and galleries.

He taught his first workshop in Maine in 1979 and continues to teach and share his passion for his craft. Kip’s dear friend Reid Callanan asked him to start a program in Cuba in 2009, and in April 2010, The Santa Fe Photoworks hosted their first trip to Cuba. ‘I have lost count of how many people I have introduced to Cuba, but I have never grown tired of doing this!” Says Kip. He has moved to Cuba and lives in Old Havana with his bride Yunaysy Aguilera in an old colonial home they are renovating. The “Latino” seed planted in his youth continues to grow.