Talk with Linda Bruckheimer for a just few minutes and it will be quite obvious, this is not your typical “Hollywood wife.” For instance, when we talked about the best out-of-the-way rib joints, she was all ears. When I mentioned sushi, she immediately replied, “Ugh. That’s my husband’s thing.” For the wife of a billionaire, to not own a smartphone, nor have a Twitter account, is kinda weird in a “what does she know that we don’t” kinda way.
Culinary tastes and gadgets, aside, the woman behind the man behind such mega-hits as Top Gun, Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop and Pirates of the Caribbean, chooses to take a different road. Literally. Ms. Bruckheimer’s passion is photography. And, she’s pretty darn good at it.
Traversing almost non-stop across America, seeking out the road less traveled, and capturing what she calls “the little things that make us who we are”, Ms. Bruckheimer delights in the moments, the images, and the people most of us wouldn’t even bother looking at twice. Her photographs take on an almost ‘Tarantino-esque’ reality about them, as if, any minute, Sam Jackson or Bruce Willis might come flopping through the door, brandishing a Colt 45 and demanding to use the phone.
A polar opposite view, compared to her legendary hubby’s M.O. of glitz, glam, and gloss, Ms. Bruckheimer says she owes her salt-of-the-earth lifestyle to her mother, whom, when she was just a child, packed her and her four siblings into a 1953 Packard and hit the road to avoid creditors. The places she visits these days not only remind her of her nomadic youth, but serve as reminders that there are still places out there untouched by modernization and social media.
These images will be on display at the Daughter’s of the American Revolution Hall, Tuesday, September 20th. Proceeds from the exhibit will go towards the preservation of the DAR Constitution Hall stage.
Ms. Bruckheimer’s also an accomplished author (Dreaming Southern and The Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way), as well as the proprietor of an antique store in her native Kentucky, so she knows a thing or two about the south.
Even if photography isn’t your thing, it’s definitely worth heading down to DAR Hall next Tuesday to just to see parts of your country that you may never get to see up close. And, if you find yourself chatting with the photographer, herself, make sure you don’t mention sushi.
