About Bruce Barone
Photography is my passion. The pursuit of wow. This is the way I try to live my life; all day; every day; Every where I turn and see I truly am astonished. Everyday I use my camera in the same manner a painter uses a brush every day, a sculptor a chisel, a pianist a piano. I am always creating images. And by constantly creating images, I continue to see new things in the world every day; and there is only one way to see new things and that is to be astonished. Simone Weil said: "Absolute attention is prayer." Tielhard de Chardin wrote: "Seeing: We might say that the whole of life lies in that verb - if not ultimately, at least essentially." I see myself as an artist. Whether I am photographing a wedding, a cat or dog, a nude, nature, a baby, a pregnant woman, a portrait……I consider all my photography art; and all my photography is personal work. Life is my subject matter
Although baseball was my childhood passion, I always considered myself an artist. And by the time I was thirteen I surprised everyone, including myself, with a portfolio of photographs, poems and short stories. I can vaguely recall a column I wrote for the Ramsey High School weekly, "The Ram;" features that I prefer to pretend never existed. Nevertheless, so many artists, like myself, have experienced early forays with some form of journalism. A beginning begins somewhere. At Manhattanville College I became a William Blake devotee, and published an essay and catalogue to coincide with an art exhibition that I organized: "William Blake: The Apocalyptic Vision." Perhaps it was from this Blake tradition ("Without Contraries there is no progression"), that my cross-country photographic travels began. No matter, my near-starving in San Jose, California and automotive breakdown in an Oklahoma blizzard were crucial. Crucial were the travels and mishaps in the sense of "innocence" and "experience" and that imagination had to be used to progress within these states. Then I became an art gallery assistant in a stately historical mansion. And next, "Unusual Gifts," a book of original poems was published and received rave reviews in New Jersey, New York State, and Philadelphia--everywhere I had friends. Then I worked as a corporate photographer and writer at Hearst Magazines (Good Housekeeping, Cosmo, Esquire, House Beautiful, Town & Country). I then sold printing while taking photographs and exhibiting them in small galleries in New York City, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
And today I am back where I started: I am creating art. My business is named Studio 19 as it is inspired by the ground-breaking gallery opened in 1908 by Alfred Stieglitz at 291 Fifth Avenue, NYC. I live and work in Eastworks, and old Mill Building in Western Massachusetts.