Unifying America One Friendship At A Time
About Me
Hi! I'm Jonathan a/k/a J. Braxton, the Photographer at Law. Thanks for visiting The Bruce Project. You're probably wondering who Bruce is - I'll get to that in a second. But I wanted to tell you about my background in photography before I tell you what I plan to do with it.
My path to photography began in 2001 when one of my co-workers sold me a Nikon Coolpix digital camera. At the time I practiced law with a large law firm in Atlanta, GA. My office was on the 31st floor of a midtown Atlanta skyscraper that offered fantastic views of the Atlanta skyline, as well as sensational sunset views. I kept that Nikon at the office to capture some of those beautiful sunsets, and I haven’t stopped shooting since.
After shooting the sunsets and nature for a while, I realized that people make the most fascinating subjects. There is nothing like the feeling of sharing an image that brings a smile, or maybe even a tear, to a client's face. I love using angles, lighting, color, texture, movement, etc. to make my images more creative and interesting. In the end, my goal is for every one of my photos to tell a story. That is especially true with The Bruce Project.
Who's Bruce?
I was 26 years old, fresh out of Georgetown Law, and eager to start my first job at a large law firm in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. One day when I walked into the elevator there stood a slightly balding thirty-something white male who looked at me and said, “you must be Jonathan.” He extended his hand to shake mine. I shook his hand, albeit hesitantly and with a “who the hell are you and how do you know my name” facial expression. That's how I met Bruce.
Bruce and I literally became friends before we even got out of the elevator. I was never quite sure why. We were of different races, came from different backgrounds, had different political views, he was nine years older, he loved Duke basketball and I hated Duke; he was married and I was single – it just didn’t make any sense. During the time that Bruce and I worked in the same office, we’d spend anywhere between 45 minutes to two hours a day in each other’s offices strategizing about our cases, and sometimes just talking about life.
Eventually Bruce moved to the firm’s Research Triangle Park office and I moved to the Atlanta office. But our friendship remained strong. One year I was driving back to Atlanta from Maryland after the holidays and I stopped at his home in Durham, NC for a short visit. I had my camera with me and Bruce asked me to take photos of his beloved Boxers. Bruce loved my photography and often encouraged me to pursue it.
A short time later Bruce called to tell me that he had been diagnosed with a very serious, and likely terminal, illness. I’ll never forget the sadness I felt when he shared his prognosis but I’ll always admire his positive outlook and sense of humor about his condition. It took me a long time to be able to go back and re-read his emails as he reported on his declining health. I’ll never forget the day I learned that Bruce had passed away. I still miss my friend. I miss his advice. I miss his wisdom. I miss losing sports bets to him. I miss him pushing me to pursue my dreams. But what really drives me crazy is that I don’t have a single photo of the two of us together.
It has taken me eleven years to figure out an appropriate way to pay homage to Bruce. Introducing The Bruce Project – a photography coffee table book and exhibit created to highlight diverse friendships in an increasingly divided America. These powerful friendships will be captured in compelling images to show the world that people from different backgrounds can maintain close friendships, even in a country as divided as present-day America. I believe that these friendships can be used to break down societal barriers while promoting tolerance and greater understanding. And thus the Bruce Project is born.
Contact Us
If you have a best friend of a different race, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic background, political party, or other category, I’d like to hear from you. What’s different about you? What do you have in common? How and when did you become friends? Where do each of you live? What challenges has your friendship faced? Why do you think your friendship has endured? Send me a message telling us your story to be considered for The Bruce Project so that we can help heal America one friendship at a time. You can also nominate someone else for The Bruce Project.
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The Project
The Bruce Project will include a blog, podcast, and a premium quality coffee table book featuring the friends who are selected through our search process. My goal is to select at least twenty-five sets of diverse friends. I will interview each group and then capture images that personify each friendship. A portion of the sales from The Bruce Project coffee table book will be donated to partner organizations that promote harmony among people of different races, religions, sexual orientations, etc.
Once the book is completed, the focus will shift to a gala and exhibition featuring The Bruce Project participants where the images will be on display. Stay tuned for more information!
