The Sound of Silence

"Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods"

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Lower Mill Pond. Easthampton, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone.

~With Thanks to PGT. 

In silence, what do you see? Hear?
I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!

Art Education

I bought this magazine in an antiques store one year ago and was thinking about it today:

In our Art History class, we read:

"Eugene Ashton and Ella Perry publish the Perry Magazine for School and Home through 1906. The Perry Magazine was a marketing and communications vehicle from a company involved in schoolroom decoration and the picture study movement at the end of the nineteenth century. The magazine promoted the use of small, inexpensive, reproductions of fine art and contemporary photographs in lessons. Many of the articles in the Perry Magazine contained lessons about moral and ethical issues as well as art history and art appreciation. The content of the Perry Magazine was determined by the economic, social, and political issues of the day. Eugene and Ella met as school principals in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The story of their marriage and business is one of success as capitalist ventures. Having been teachers they understood what teachers needed. The Perry Magazine had a large influence on the introduction of art appreciation and art reproductions into the public school curriculum. Before the publication of the Perry Magazine only the elite had access to fine art."

At the MET. Photo by Bruce Barone.

Do you study art?
I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!

Choosing Beauty

Tulips on the Kitchen Table. Photo by Bruce Barone.

Do you choose beauty? Do you find the miracles in everyday life?
I would love to hear from you!


If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!

Hoboken, New Jersey

Some images from my upcoming book, Famous People Famous Places. Introduction by Luc Sante. He writes:

"Hoboken, a mile-square patch on the waterfront in Hudson County, New Jersey, was once a brawling German sailors’ town, and back then it retained a bit of that atmosphere, mostly in its bars. It also hosted the memory of Frank Sinatra--embalmed there even when he was still alive--as well as whole clans of Appalachian migrants, a class of people you didn’t often see elsewhere in the metropolitan area. Hoboken could remind you of On the Waterfront, parts of which were filmed there, or it could remind you of Walker Evans photographs, of industrial Pennsylvania or blighted Alabama depending on the particular block. Until developers happened upon it, Hoboken was a tranquil place, as homey as a dirt yard and as concentrated as a sitcom setting, with its main drag lined with mysterious storefronts full of oddities, open whenever the proprietors woke up during daylight hours, and its town hall surrounded by benches where slumbered the ancients, the city’s collective memory.

            "Barone’s photographs catch the distinctive silence of the era, its somnolence, its vague menace--unspecified, sometimes, even after it had kicked you in the head and taken the six bucks in your pocket--and its weather."

Are They Not All Self Portraits

Would you like a copy of my book? I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!

My Name Is Bruce and I Will Be Your Cook

Can I interest you in some Tamago-Yaki? Or Shrimp Roll?

Self Portrait. Thanksgiving Morning. November 25, 2010.

Here. You choose. And please help yourself to Soy Sauce:

Thanksgiving Breakfast for my children.

Maybe you prefer Shrimp Sushi? Careful,  I added a lot of Wasabi to it!

YUM!!!

 

Let's go for a walk and when we return home we will all share a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner:

Thanksgiving Dinner. November 25, 2010.

I hope you enjoyed your food!

Would you like to come over again to Bruce's Kitchen? I would love to hear from you!


If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!

Happy Thanksgiving

I share with you this; an excerpt of a speech I delivered to 300+ people from the magazine industry a few years ago at a Holiday Luncheon in New York City (It's in caps because I found it easier to read when at the podium):

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON IS AN AWESOME TIME OF YEAR...
A TIME FOR LOOKING FOR THE BEST IN OTHERS...
A TIME FOR JOY IN BRIGHTENING OTHER LIVES WITH GENEROUS GIFTS.
TWO YEARS AGO I SHARED WITH YOU SOME COMMENTS FROM CHILDREN
ABOUT WHAT THEY LEARNED IN LIFE. AND THIS YEAR,
WHAT I LIKE MOST ABOUT THE HOLIDAY SEASON,
IS SEEING THE HOLIDAYS THROUGH THE EYES OF CHILDREN,
FOR AS WE GET OLDER
WE SOMETIMES GROW NUMB TO THE JOY.
THIS YEAR, I AM REMINDED EVEN MORE THAN EVER
THAT THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS ABOUT MUSIC, LIFE, AND LOVE.
AND IN KEEPING WITH THE TRADITION STARTED THEN TWO YEARS AGO
I AM TODAY REMINDED WHAT CHILDREN RECENTLY SAID
WHEN ASKED THEIR FEELINGS ABOUT LOVE.
ONE CHILD, AGE 6, SAID
"I'M IN FAVOR OF LOVE AS LONG
AS IT DOESN'T HAPPEN WHEN THE SIMPSONS IS ON TV."
ANOTHER, AGE 7, SAID
'IF FALLING IN LOVE IS ANYTHING LIKE LEARNING HOW TO SPELL,
I DON'T WANT TO DO IT."
AND FINALLY, ONE CHILD SAID
"I THINK YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GET SHOT WITH AN ARROW OR SOMETHING
BUT THE REST OF IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE SO PAINFUL."
LOOKING OUT AT YOU NOW I AM LASTLY REMINDED
HOW THERE ARE TIMES IN OUR LIVES AS FRIENDS
WHEN NOTHING MATTERS BUT CELEBRATION....
I HOPE TODAY IS SUCH A DAY FOR YOU
AND I WANT TO LEAVE YOU WITH ONE FINAL THOUGHT;
IT IS, I BELIEVE,
VERY IMPORTANT TO STOP AND EMBRACE
THE SPECIAL EVENTS THAT MARK OUR LIVES...
NOT THE SECONDS, MINUTES, HOURS..
BUT THE OCCASIONS, BOTH SMALL AND LARGE,
OF GREAT REJOICING...THE SMILE OF A CHILD,
A TEENAGER'S LAUGHTER,
SNOWMEN MADE FROM MARSHMALLOWS,
THE MORNING SKY, MIGRATING GEESE,
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS,
THE MOVIE IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE,
SNOWBALL FIGHTS, A BABY CRYING,
SNOW PILED HIGH, GINGERBREAD HOUSES,
RED RIBBONS AND RED FACES,
SEEING THE TREE IN ROCKEFELLER CENTER,
AGAIN, WATCHING A LOVED ONE SLEEPING,
CHILDREN GIGGLING,
SO MANY TREASURES TO REMEMBER AND TO DISCOVER,
TO GIVE THANKS FOR, LIKE LIFE, LIKE LOVE,
LIKE YOU, HERE WITH US TODAY.
THE GERMAN POET GOETHE SAID
"NOTHING IS WORTH MORE THAN THIS DAY."
ISN'T THAT THE TRUTH !

Sunrise Over Mt. Tom. Easthampton, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone.

Isn't that the truth? I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Breakfast

Flax Seed Bread
Fruit Salad
Tamago-Yaki
Shrimp Sushi
Champagne
Coffee

 Dinner

Roasted Turkey Roulade
With Fig, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Sun-dried Tomatoes
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Mushroom Gravy
Wine

Assorted Pies
Coffee

May Peace and Love Be With You!

Photo by Bruce Barone.

Cheers!

What's on your Thanksgiving Menu? I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!  

When It Snows In New England

We have not yet seen snow fall here this Autumn in Western Massachusetts. Black Friday might bring rain mixed with snow and if so you will find me at the park photographing the field and the stone bridge.

Meanwhile, today I am thinking of when it snowed a few years ago a few days before Thanksgiving:

The Lower Mill Pond. Easthampton, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You! 

Fly Me To The Moon

I am blessed to see:

Photo by Bruce Barone.

Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you 

~Lyrics by Bart Howard

I am blessed to have Susan in my life:

Susan. Photo by Bruce Barone.

How do you feel blessed?
I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You! 

Sunday Contemplation

Photo by Bruce Barone.

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams.

~W.B. Yeats

Photo by Bruce Barone.

 Again: What do you dream of doing?
I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You! 

Shoot Me

If I ever, ever, ever say I am going to participate in an Arts & Crafts Fair I want you to say, "Bruce. What are you CRAZY!"

Self Portrait with the help on my #1 Son, Daryl.

Years ago, but not so many years ago, I commuted from Western Massachusetts to New York City a few days a week as a print sales person for one of the largest printing companies in the world.

Often, I would bring my daughter, Danielle (and sometimes a friend of her's) or my son, Daryl. And they would come with me on appointments at my customers: Conde Nast, Book of the Month Club, Columbia House, Reader's Digest, Vibe Magazine.

And we would always make time to visit galleries and museums--and have lunch! I'll never forget the time Daryl came with me to Reader's Digest (the NYC office) and my customer, Stacy, Daryl and I had lunch at Mesa Grill--Daryl was I think about 12 at the time and ate his whole lunch; pasta with seafood and then after saying goodby to Stacy, a dear friend, the two of us went to the Museum of Natural History.

Ah. But this featured self-portait (I took self-portratits at every art show I went to!) was taken at The Metropolitan Museum of Art--with Daryl's help.

Peace be with you.

Begin Now

Photo by Bruce Barone.

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness and genius has power and magic in it."
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What do you dream of doing?
I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You! 

Arts & Crafts Fair

Getting ready for tomorrow's Arts & Crafts Fair at a St Anthony Maronite Church in Springfield, MA.

Susan will be selling here handcrafted soaps and I will be selling my greeting cards (Our booths are side-by-side; I know, cute! )

The cards come with envelopes and are packaged in cello-bags.

I'm also selling a few prints in these small, adorable frames:

Do you like to see art in small frames? I would love to hear from you!


If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You! 

Thinking About My Daughter

Danielle. Photo by Bruce Barone.

 

 

 

This was many years ago. I will be the father of the bride in June 2011.

Nurture Your Dreams

Friends, to fully appreciate today's post I encourage you to review yesterday's entry--and also click on the link.

Yesterday morning I went to the park down the street from where we live to photograph only the field.

The roar of water, however, called to me through the woods and I walked further to see.

“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.” ~Lao Tzu

How do you nurture your dreams?
I would love to hear from you!

If you want distinctive nature, documentary or portrait photography--photography with soul that inspires you to live a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me. Thank You!