Photography As A Spiritual Pursuit

By Jan Howard

An exhibit on display during September in the C.H. Booth Library’s community room features the work of a photographer who, as a child, always wanted to capture thunderclouds on film. As an adult, photographs have become a spiritual pursuit for Donald Bruen of Woodbury.

“I see photography as art,” Mr Bruen said. “Art to me is art if it creates an emotional, spiritual response. I photograph everything I see: architecture, people, landscapes, windows, and doors. I am compelled to take a picture.”

Mr Bruen’s exhibit features about 25 of his eclectic photographs. On September 26, at 7 pm, he will lead an open discussion on photography in general and its place in the art world.

In 1948, Mr Bruen heard a song about a tree in a meadow and wanted to capture that image in a photograph. “When I saw cameras in a magazine, I can’t explain the feeling I had as a kid.

“My mother had a Kodak, and I loved taking pictures with it. Getting a roll of film was wonderful. I just loved doing it.

“I love photographs,” he said. “Rarely is there a day that goes by that I don’t take pictures. Eighty percent of the photos I take outside are in the early and late hours of the day when there is less contrast.

“My pictures have a soft quality, and people talk about them as paintings,” he said. “I’m happy people can appreciate what I see and share with them.”

Mr Bruen said he doesn’t look through his lens and see, for instance, a barn or a tree. “People need to get nouns out of their vocabulary. I see shapes. A photograph is a design in a rectangle.”

However, he noted, “My opinion has never created fact.” When he serves as a juror at a photography show, he said he often finds himself at opposite opinions with other jurors.

“I look for the emotional, spiritual touch. Others look for resolution and focus,” he said. “As a judge, I let the picture come to me so I can absorb what it speaks to me. All our senses are being affected.

“I sometimes throw my photographs out of focus on purpose to soften them,” he said, describing a photograph of a sunrise that without its grainy effect, “would be just a sunrise.”

“I use an awful lot of sky,” he explained. “If I’m showing a house, I want to show the place. Otherwise the house could be anywhere.

“I’m satisfied with what I get out of my art,” he said. “How other people see it is not my business.”

Mr Bruen said his childhood interest in photography continued through his high school years and beyond, but he never acted on it until about 22 years ago.

“A woman friend said I was given a gift by God and I wasn’t sharing it,” he said.

“It is a gift,” Mr Bruen said, noting he has never taken any formal photography classes.

“I was finally talked into doing a show in 1984 in Westport. It was a smashing success. I thought it was a fluke.”

It wasn’t. Since then, he has had numerous shows in New York City, Chicago, California, and Arizona, as well as several in Connecticut, since he began living here in 1993.

The future is bright, also. “I’m booked up for the next six to eight months,” he noted. In addition to taking and exhibiting photographs, he offers one-on-one photography instructions and wedding photography. He also lectures at colleges, universities, and art associations.

 “I’ve never taken pictures just to exhibit or sell. I take them because I want to,” he said. “I’m compelled to photograph.”

The very first photograph he sold on the Internet was to someone in Beijing. When his photographs were on exhibit in a West Cornwall shop, newscaster Tom Brokaw made a purchase, Mr Bruen said.

Mr Bruen said he shoots everything in color but prints in both black and white and color, though he usually likes black and white better. A photograph taken in Yosemite National Park showing the fog through trees is one example of when he prefers black and white.

He admires the photographic works of Elliot Porter and Ansel Adams.

Mr Bruen is not just a photographer. Retired after 45 years in automobile manufacturing and distribution, he now does automotive consulting work and sells cell phones.

He also has a publisher interested in a book he is writing on motivational management.

  “I’m very busy,” he said.

A native of Brewster, N.Y., Mr Bruen received his bachelor of arts degree from Pace University. He is a member of the Professional Photographers Association of America. He has a daughter, Jennifer, and a son, Mark.

He loves music and attending concerts and movies, adding, “Movies in my opinion are the ultimate art form because they have everything: literature, drama, acting, music, and photography.”

Examples of his work can be found at www.bruenart.com. For information about the exhibit or Mr Bruen’s discussion on September 26, call the C.H. Booth Library at 426-4533.