A friend recently asked me, "Bruce, where do you find inspiration?” The easy answer---the brief answer--would be to say, "I find inspiration everywhere and in everything." But the more I thought about this, I more I thought the question better answered might be: "Why do you find inspiration?”

Often, I ask myself "what am I called to do" and "how can I make the world a better place." To paraphrase Rumi: I need to be permanently astonished. The second thing I need is to love. And the third thing is to sacrifice--give the light that is myself.

Tielhard de Chardin wrote:

”Seeing: We might say that the whole of life lies in that verb - if not ultimately, at least essentially.”

Maybe I should call this sense of astonishment an Epiphany. I strive to find, see, and experience an epiphany in the richness of the ordinary day. To see. To be astonished.

We design the world by the way we choose to see it. I choose to be astonished and to share that wonder with all. This is the guiding principle of my portraiture, my creative documentary work and my photographs of nature. 

The facts: I graduated from Manhattanville College in 1974 with a degree in Art History and in English. It was at this time I began developing my photographic vision specializing in creative documentary photography and portraiture. My first job was working as a corporate photographer and writer for Hearst Magazines where I had the opportunity to shoot portraits of many editors and writers, business professionals; during lunch I could be found wandering the streets on New York City camera-in-hand, often with a quote stuck in my pocket: “I never look for a photograph. The photograph finds me and says, "I'm here!" and I say, "Yes I see you. I hear you."  

I have been making original fine art photography for over 20 years. My work is included in many private collections around the world.  This series of 20 images are from this past year. I love portraits not only because I like people so much, but also because people seem to get along with me too. I try to both learn something from the people I photograph and share with them information about myself.   

Collectors and admirers of my work have said: 

Thank you for making my life more beautiful with each of your photographs 

You have enriched my vision the most, in the gentlest, softest, least intrusive way. It has been like a prolonged master class (in photography).

I guess there is a reason people pay to get portraits taken...stunning...it also takes a very special artist to make such a portrait. The connection and human understanding are vital. I expect that few people truly have such an opportunity -- to see their souls in their own faces.

Browsing your (website) is like walking thru a museum and watching a documentary on the history of photography……moments in time magnificently captured in one frame of film. Just moments that once were and now are gone, but oh, how much they say to us. They are but just one frame of millions that compose our lives, our history and our culture. And some how you manage to capture a whole life, a complete story in history and those details that defines us as a society in just that one frame……

 So many of your images do something more for me, something more than just an image. They actually trigger a mental process or better yet sometimes an emotional response that makes me FEEL. And dear Bruce in a world where I have learned to numb that down, that is powerful. 

Bruce Barone,June 2005