Christopher Bruno, Photographer

04/19/2025

This afternoon in Piscataway, the Hands Off protest organized by 50501: New Jersey and Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization.

04/14/2025

My photographs are included in Record Crates United's superb write up about the latest Psychedelic Sangha Bardo Bath: Chöd, which featured Isaiah Mitchell, Garcia Peoples, Kendraplex, and Chris Dingman creating a rich sonic tapestry over imagery from Arik Moonhawk Roper and a liquid light show by Macrodose.

(All photos by Christopher Bruno) On the 5th of April, Psychedelic Sangha staged a glorious return to Manhattan’s Judson Church, cycling through two heavy sets dedicated to the Chöd meditatio…

08/27/2024

Despite traditional instrumentation, Magic Tuber Stringband's sound is anything but. From familiar front porch melodies arise passages of drone, repetition, and atonality which recall an Appalachian Ligeti or, as Keith Hadad of Record Crates United aptly put it, "the Velvet Underground of bluegrass." Theirs is a music that evokes dusk, its beauty and the mystery it portends.

I've long wanted to catch them live and was elated when I learned that they would be playing at the third iteration of Raven Sings The Blues's Deep in the Valley Festival, exactly six years to the day after I first met guitarist Evan Morgan no less. He'd played a gig in Philadelphia that also featured Eli Winter, Will Csorba, and Cameron Knowler; at the time, I wasn't familiar with any of them, but Jesse Sheppard had booked it and advised me it was going to be a good one. Jesse knows of what he speaks.

I knew I wanted to make a portrait of the band, and that Evan himself was a practitioner and admirer of the analog process, so I brought along my 4x5 and a few sheets of Ektachrome. Evan, Courtney, and Mike played a phenomenal set, after which they graciously gave me a few minutes of their time to stand for this portrait.

Their set was recorded by Jake from NYCTaper, and can be heard and downloaded here:

https://www.nyctaper.com/2024/08/magic-tuber-string-band-august-10-2024-deep-in-the-valley/

02/18/2024

"It's the day of love. This is a song about death."

Vera Sola; public records, Brooklyn, NY. 14 February 2024.

10/05/2022

This month's issue of The Wire: Adventures In Modern Music features one of my images of Laraaji from the Deep in the Valley festival. Curated by Raven Sings The Blues, the one day festival was held this past August at the From the Ground Brewery in Red Hook, NY.

09/09/2022

Today I can finally announce my new record Country House will be released on November 11th. A lot of work went into this record and I couldn’t have done it without producer Philippe Bronchtein to create what I think is my greatest work yet. Written and recorded over 2020 and 2021 I wrote these song while in my apartment during the pandemic. This was the first time ever I could solely concentrate on songwriting and figuring out what I wanted to say. Phil recorded most of what you hear in his home studio while Nate Barnes recorded in his private residence. Between waves I was able to record vocals and guitar at Red Convertible Recordings and Wildwood Studios in Brooklyn. This record Is about constructing a place for yourself away from the city lights, it’s about sons and daughters, your next door neighbor, and the love of your life. You’ll hear the whole thing soon but for now please enjoy the title track, which is streaming everywhere. It’s a beautiful track that Phil turned to gold. It takes a village to create a record and everyone involved is tagged above. My beautiful fiancé Alyssa and her friend Elaine made the video for this single that you can watch too. An album release show is in the works and I hope to see you out there as I play these new songs with a new band and get to see you once again.

Links to all of the above in stories/bio
Album photo and design by Christopher Bruno

08/04/2022

Kingston morning.

07/05/2022

Man reflects upon nature as nature reflects upon man.

05/23/2022

A very fun -- albeit very hot -- day in downtown Metuchen.

05/22/2022

The Solomon Alber trio, performing earlier this afternoon at The Coffee Box - Rahway as part of their Ukrainian fundraiser.

03/17/2022

Finland's Kameratori.fi has decided to stop production of Santa Rae 1000, a unique black and white emulsion sourced from Russian high speed surveillance film. As they sell through their remaining stock, all profits therefrom will be donated to Ukrainian humanitarian relief; thusfar Kamerastore has raised over 20,000€ for families affected by the war.

I wrote about shooting my first roll of Santa Rae 1000.

For several years, Finland's Kamera Store has been purchasing Russian air surveillance film in bulk, cutting and spooling it into 35mm and medium format rolls, and selling it under the name Santa Rae...

03/02/2022