Brian Kaufman is a visual journalist and wilderness photographer based in the Great Lakes region.

As Executive Video Producer at the Detroit Free Press, Kaufman bridges the gap between video journalism and documentary film. His work spans a broad range, from news-driven shorts to feature films on social and environmental issues. He played an integral role in a USA Today Network project about the US/Mexico border that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2018. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized Kaufman’s work with three Emmy awards and a nomination in the craft category of Nature and Wildlife Cinematography.

Most recently, Kaufman co-directed Coldwater Kitchen, a character-driven film set in a Michigan prison, where chef Jimmy Lee Hill runs a highly regarded culinary training program that gives incarcerated men new skills and new hope. The documentary received a James Beard Media Award in 2023 and in 2024 it was accepted to American Film Showcase, a premiere diplomacy program that organizes screenings and workshops with American filmmakers in more than 60 countries.

Formerly, Kaufman directed and edited 12th and Clairmount, an entirely-archival film that transports viewers back in time to explore the causes and aftermath of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion. Variety Magazine called the film, “a revelatory portrait of the city … illuminating and innovatively crafted.” CriterionCast described it as, “a devastating piece of non-fiction filmmaking … part oral history and part sociological scholarship.”

In addition to his film work, Kaufman regularly pursues large-scale photography projects that visually reimagine American landscapes strained by the cascading effects of climate change. He has developed the work into a week-long course at Maine Media Workshops called, “Painted Landscape: Nature in Motion.” Kaufman taught a video storytelling workshop at the college for over a decade and has coached workshops for the National Press Photographers Association, The Mountain Workshops and The Eddie Adams Workshop.

Kaufman’s career began with a Visual Journalism degree at Brooks Institute of Photography in Southern California. At the Naples Daily News in SW Florida, Kaufman helped launch the first newspaper-based television newscast in the country. Since joining the Detroit Free Press, Kaufman has been instrumental in facilitating the education of video journalism to other newspaper photographers and reporters, including a USA Today Network initiative that dramatically increased video traffic in newsrooms nationwide.

In his spare time, Kaufman pursues adventure, solitude and art outdoors.

Contact him at [email protected] or directly through the form below.