About Brendan caffrey


I make amazing images of beautiful places…

At the beginning of the summer of 2009, I had surgery to fix a ligament I had torn in my wrist while mountain biking in Moab, Utah. I was in some pain and had 4 pins sticking out of my hand, but overall, I was completely fine. The worst part was not being able to bike all summer so some boredom quickly crept in. At some point, a friend of mine just said, “You should buy a ‘real camera’ to give yourself something to do.”

And my addiction began… 

My name is Brendan Caffrey and I’m a landscape, travel, hotel & resort, and architectural photographer based in the incredible Vail Valley of Colorado. I was born in New Hampshire and as a kid, I spent three amazing years living in the Netherlands where I was lucky enough to travel around Western Europe a lot – I got to visit the Louvre, the Tower of London, Vatican City, the Eiffel Tower, the French Riviera, the Alps, and all that other good stuff. But it was all places and experiences that I didn’t appreciate at the time… I had a tantrum at the Palace of Versailles, I spent my time at Notre Dame on my Game Boy, and ran around Stonehenge chasing my brother.

When we got back to the states, my family landed in Westford, Massachusetts, “right outside of Boston,” before I went to join the hippies in the mountains of Vermont getting all smaht at Saint Michael’s College. That was my introduction to the mountain lifestyle so after college, when I found myself working as a cubical monkey, wearing a tie every day and sitting in atrocious Boston traffic, it didn’t really work for me. I decided to go get my head right for “one ski season” out in Colorado…

That was 16 years ago…

My Camera Gear

Back in 2009, I started shooting with a Nikon D60 and kit 18-55mm lens before spending a cringeworthy amount of money on a bunch of other cameras, lenses, and miscellaneous other gear while I was trying to figure this whole thing out and what setup worked best for my needs. My current main gear setup consists of:

  • Sony A7RIII
  • Sony A7RII
  • Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art
  • Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS
  • Sony Vario-Tessar T*FE 16-35 mm f/4
  • Sony FE 24-240 mm f/3.5-6.3
  • 100mm Format HiTech Firecrest ND Filters
  • Really RIght Stuff TVC24L, Pocket Pod, & Clamp
  • Peak Design Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod
  • DJI Mavic 3

It only took one Colorado summer with my first camera to shift my priorities away from just ski-bumming. Life became more about adventure and exploration by road and trail. Not only was my backyard an incredibly beautiful mountainous playground, but I immediately realized that I was a quick long-weekend road trip from some of the most gorgeous places in the world. And once that summer of 2009 came around and I got my “real camera” (Nikon D60), my adventures to amazing new places became intertwined with that photography addiction. Photography became an incentive to explore deep in to wilderness areas even when the weather might be better suited for a movie-marathon from my couch. It became a reason to wake up at cruel hours of the morning that shouldn’t even exist in order to go enjoy a sunrise. It became my motivation to drive thousands of miles over the course of a long weekend. And it became motivation to continuously learn and create.

In addition to traveling around and working on One for the Road, I manage Brendan Caffrey Photography, focusing on architectural, interior, luxury hotel, and real estate photography. I’m also the Assistant General Manager & Director of Marketing for Creekside at Beaver Creek, an upscale ski lodge in the heart of Beaver Creek Ski Resort, Colorado.

So... What's up with "One for the Road?"

When I discovered that I was spending a lot of time on the road exploring, I found that I also seemed to be ending my days the same way; making images from incredibly beautiful places, while having my own little happy hour with a few IPAs or a little bourbon. As the sun dipped well below the horizon, I’d click the shutter on more time, take a last sip and then pack up to find camp. It just seemed like I kept having another one for the road – another drink before my journey.

Overall, I’m just hoping that the places I visit and the shots I create can inspire others to go enjoy their one for the road.