Bruce Barnbaum of Granite Falls, Washington entered photography as a hobbyist in the 1960s. After nearly 40 years, it is still his hobby. It has also been his life's work since 1970. Bruce's textbook, "The Art of Photography, An Approach to Personal Expression," published in 1994 with a revised edition in 1999, is widely considered to be the most complete textbook available on photography, as well as the most understandable, delving into its technical, aesthetic, philosophical, and creative aspects. Now, the newest edition (Edition 3.1) is regularly updated, making it the most thorough and current book on photography available. Bruce is a frequent contributor to several photography magazines. His feature article, The Master Printing Class, appears in each issue of Photo Techniques, and he has been published regularly in LensWork, with articles, interviews, and his 1998 Portfolio. Through his workshops, articles, lectures and textbook, Bruce has become as well respected an educator as a photographer.

Bruce's first monograph, Visual Symphony, was published in 1986 with a second printing in 1988. The 14"x12" book contained 91 tri-tone images, sold 10,000 copies, and is now sold out and out of print. In 2002, Bruce's new monograph series made its debut, with the publication of Tone Poems -- Book 1, a 12"x12" book containing 90 images plus a CD of classical piano music. The music was carefully chosen to mirror and expand upon the emotional content of the images within each of the three sections, or opuses, of the book. Tone Poems ~ Book 2 was published in 2005. Also 12"x12 in size, it, too, contains three opuses, plus 91 reproduction images, and another CD of classical piano music, again with pianist Judith Cohen recording the solos, and accompanied by other artists on a trio. The unfolding series is a unique merging of two art forms, photography and music, into a single form of expression. As such, there is nothing quite like it on the market.

Bruce is recognized as one of the finest photographers and darkroom printers on this planet, primarily through his b&w work, but also through his color imagery. His work is represented by galleries throughout the United States, and is in the collections of museums and private collectors worldwide.

His photography expands upon the dynamics of both nature and the works of man, relating physical forces to the sweeping forms that dominate his vivid imagery. Visually he emphasizes the best of humanity and nature, sometimes with bold realism, yet often with degrees of abstraction to heighten the mystery. He understands light to an extent rarely found, and combines this understanding with a mastery of composition, applying them to an extraordinarily wide range of subject matter. The remarkable variety of his work is made even more compelling by the ambiguities woven into the images concerning subject matter, the size of the objects photographed, or their orientation, forcing the viewer to pause and think and become part of the creative process.

Bruce has taught workshops since 1972. He firmly believes that creativity not only can be encouraged, but taught. He will make suggestions to students, allowing them to carry on from that point in their own way. He does not believe in “cloning” his own imagery, but in encouraging each student to develop his or her own vision and voice.

Bruce's educational background was in mathematics and physics, and he obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from UCLA in 1965 adn 1967, respectively. He has applied his math/physics background to his imagery, often using aspects of the landscape to make allegorical images of the forces in nature, from those of the the subatomic level to tose at the the cosmological level. Because of his deep insights into mathematics, he is able to simplify concepts in his teaching of the technical aspects of photography to make them comprehensible and understandable to those either lacking or fearing the technical aspects of photography. He claims that they are really quite simple, and he proves it in his teaching.