JOURNAL — Bear Cieri

BEAR CIERI

the intervale
10/2021

A time to harvest, to slow and store energy, reap what you have sown and tended to over the busy Summer months.

plum island, ma
09/2021Nowhere in particular to be, the car is safe and runs well. I can stretch out with a sleeping pad, sleeping bag and pillow in the back. A traveling and miniature version of the Vietnam Memorial Wall on display while migratory birds fill the sky and the arrival of the colder months lingers on the horizon.

this bruce mitchell
08/2021

A work of total fiction.

I suspect the everyday-ordinary character of This Bruce Mitchell was well planned. It was all a ruse to protect himself, to elude any sort of attention, to find the ever-present gaze of those around him, the radar of this small town, and fly well below it.

Upon first inspection, there is a nonchalance with which he pumps his gasoline. He holds a cool steely calm as he watches the digital screen, the glowing red numbers churn ever higher, $3.39 for Regular. Even his vehicle, a Toyota Venza – if not the most boring vehicle on the road, certainly the most practical – was a part of the disguise. Shit, this guy went so far as to put an Army sticker on the back window and let me take his picture. Now that is confidence.

Below all that, his stomach churned, he wanted to cling to the nozzle, squeeze it with everything he had only to make that damn pump go faster. But he couldn’t let on, it was about the details. He knew that if you were going to get away with shit you had to pay attention to details. So he let the whole situation play out as if no one knew….. because no one knew anything.

You see… those of us idiots who wander around in our own lives content to carry on with the wishful thinking that allows us to overlook those that would take advantage of us – little did we know This Bruce Mitchell was on the other end of that equation. He was part of a group that searches for weak spots and exploits them. They find loopholes in computer systems, worm their way in and to gather data. If you get enough data points on a person you own that person.

This Bruce Mitchell, for all his care and diligence, calm and intelligence, forgot to remove his fucking name tag. Take a second look, a closer look. Does that look like the same man? Does this look like a man who wears a burly grey and black beard? Sure, This Bruce Mitchell knows his way around computers and can pull off the role of Senior Systems Analyst at Copley Hospital, but it is not the Bruce Mitchell on his badge. No, This Bruce Mitchell had a small brief case in his car that held a hard drive. And on that hard drive was all the data of every patient at the Hospital. When he cross references that data with data collected from social media accounts and any other little digital tid-bits on the World Wide Web, This Bruce Mitchell starts to understand these people. The more he understands them the more he can gather information on them, just waiting for a little mistake. Perhaps they have a weak password that they like to use or accidentally click a link they shouldn’t have - one more piece to the puzzle. Gather enough pieces and This Bruce Mitchell owns that person…. Their business, their money, their potential credit. The funny thing is, the people in this group, the group that This Bruce Mitchell belongs to, they aren’t after persons. They want personalities, identities that they can use to gain entre into bigger systems.

The whole game is all about little pieces, intricate nuances that build and lead to the big game. But in the end, it was the details that exposed This Bruce Mitchell.

tethered to life
07/2021

One’s existence determined not by the measure of one’s dreams or abilities, but by the length of an oxygen hose.

at home
06/2021

There is something about falling in love that turns the banal into extrodinary. Each time I go out to explicitly make photos I fall in love with the world. Each new element is exciting, each new vision reminds me that I am alive. To have those same feelings at home, on a day-to-day basis, is truely a gift beyond compare.

bear ridge speedway
05/2021

Bent metal and banged up knucles. Dirt and oil and the smell of exhaust. The deafaning rumble of engines that care not for efficency or longevity, only performance. Rising above the noise and chaos is the announcer calling cars to the line over the PA system. Then there are the drivers... they are old, seasoned, steely eyed and they are fresh faced, lanky and eager. Running through the heart of this place is the family - the brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles and cousins that come out in support every weekend. They keep the cars running, constantly tweeking and fixing trying to find that little bit of mechanical magic that might offer an advantage. They keep the drivers running through their support and their simple presence

ky > adk
11/2020

Road trip from Lexington, KY home to the Adirondacks of NY. November 8-12, 2020. I was influenced by the recent election and used the current state of affairs to guide my view.

breeder’s cup 2020
11/2020

I was hired by a television production company as part of their tech crew. We built the camera and video infrastructure to broadcast the 2020 Breeders Cup for NBC. It was a little different than years past as the only spectators allowed were the owners and their guests. These images capture the people I worked with, the place itstelf and moments from the event.

connecticut office park
11/2020

I can’t pass up the opportunity to explore an office park. Their placement, their purpose and the way they try to incorporate something natural to balance the inherent artiface of their being.

arizona
01/2020

With the northeast deep in the depths of a cold and grey winter, I was lucky enough to get a gig in Arizona. I extended my stay and spent a day wandering the streets of Tempe. These images represent an exploration of light, color and form, the simple act of seeing and recording. It felt good to be in the sunshine with skin exposed, to exprience and capture the beauty of winter light, but someplace new.