#6 - Bruce McKaig - April 1, 2017 - Baltimore, Maryland

Neither Bruce or I can remember how or exactly when we first came to meet each other.  Our meeting likely back in the late 1990's in Washington, DC came as a result of Bruce's work with large format pinhole cameras and alternative photographic printing processes.   Bruce was pretty well known in the DC area back then as a prolific pinhole camera artist. He created enormous pinhole cameras - one of them constructed from a 10 gallon galvanized steel trashcan. He placed the cameras around DC and often the exposures could take several hours or even days. There was a time that the police got involved because someone thought one of Bruce's cameras was a bomb.

Aside from Bruce's pinhole work how do I describe him? That is a difficult task - he is complex but simple. He isn't just a photographer - he is an artist. He lives and breathes an artist lifestyle. He lives in an artist cooperative in downtown Baltimore just a short walk from the Baltimore Inner Harbor.  He teaches photography at Georgetown University a couple days a week.  He writes reviews about art for various blogs and publications. He spends his time applying for grants and applying for artist in residence programs in various locations.  He is fluent in French and mentors African refugees new to the United States. He also creates art with the rest of his time. Check out Bruce's website and artworks here.

Some people might think an artist sits around all day putting paint on canvas, chain smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee all day, and that they have many rich patrons that buy their work for exorbitant sums of money. A bit like this. Some rare artists do that but often the life of an artist isn't that simple - or "easy" - simply put:  Bruce works his ass off.

I took Bruce to Graffiti Alley in Baltimore which is an L-shaped alley between North Avenue and Howard Street. Graffiti artists are free to paint in the alley without fear of prosecution from the police.  While we were there several photo shoots were also occurring. One was a heavy metal band being photographed by a professional photographer. A man photographed his daughters kicking a soccer ball with his smartphone. A  young couple photographed each other.  A graffiti artist put the finishing touches on one of his creations. The place was buzzing with activity, we noticed that everyone was courteous and friendly to each other.

Bruce is not a graffiti artist - however, Bruce creates public art pieces and this was a first-time visit to the alley for both of us. We both admired the space, art, and the concept.  During the shoot,  I told him "this is public art that is "of Baltimore" - you Bruce are now "of Baltimore". That's why I figured I'd take you here. It looks like a very visual place". Bruce moved to the city in 2015 from Washington, DC.  The alley is just about a two-mile walk from Bruce's place.

For this shoot, the ten-minute rule was jettisoned out the window - Wanting to concentrate on making ten really good images, we spent about two hours making the ten exposures.  Keeping an eye on the camera settings and making sure everything was in place I didn't experience a failure like with the previous shoot.  After the alley photos we went over to Bruce's place and made the remaining photos.  Bruce is working on a new art piece, which involves getting people of disparate backgrounds together to have discussions over a meal. The conversations are possibly going to be recorded. Bruce says "There is such much division in our country now - there is an "us" versus "them" rhetoric. Often our conversations and attiudes are divided into "yes" or "no". What if I get people together to talk out some things? - discover things about each other - then perhaps we can be more tolerant."