{"id":143050,"date":"2025-10-24T16:07:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/143050\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:07:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:07:19","slug":"i-only-shot-one-frame-how-a-student-photographer-made-an-iconic-portrait-of-bruce-springsteen-in-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/143050\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I Only Shot One Frame’: How a Student Photographer Made an Iconic Portrait of Bruce Springsteen in 1976"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TwoBruce Springsteen on tour in 1976 | Photo by Joe Vitti\/The Post <\/p>\n

Award-winning photographer Joe Vitti remembers the night he encountered Bruce Springsteen in a small-town campus bar in 1976, ultimately capturing just one single shot. But what a shot it was of the rock star known as \u201cThe Boss.\u201d <\/p>\n

The release of the new Bruce Springsteen movie, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, on October 24 has triggered a flood of memories for many, including Vitti, of performances, rock history, and photos. <\/p>\n

\u201cI only shot one frame,\u201d recalls Vitti, whose black-and-white image was published by his college newspaper and shared to a broader audience on social media decades later. <\/p>\n

Springsteen and his band visited Athens, Ohio (population 24,824) for a concert on April 1, 1976, at Ohio University. The night before the concert, The Boss was spotted at a bar called Swanky\u2019s, now defunct. <\/p>\n

Student photographer Vitti ran the short distance from the college newspaper office to the bar. At Swanky\u2019s, Vitti \u201clit up the place\u201d with a bare-bulb Honeywell Strobonar flash on a Nikon F camera. With one exposed frame of Tri-X film in his camera, Vitti raced back to the darkroom to process his film at the college paper (The Post<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Post published Vitti\u2019s photo with an extended caption under the headline \u201cCruisin\u2019 with Bruce.\u201d The text was written by student Mary Beth Sofranec (now Mary Beth Bardin) based on a brief interview with Springsteen at Swanky\u2019s bar, says Dan Sewell, editor of the college newspaper in 1976-1977.<\/p>\n

\"TwoBruce Springsteen on tour in 1976 | Photo by Joe Vitti\/The Post <\/p>\n

The Boss was looking at Sofranec when Vitti took Springsteen\u2019s picture, she says.<\/p>\n

The following day, Vitti attended the Springsteen concert in Athens, Ohio, and \u201chad a rockin\u2019 good time\u201d with friends from Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Where Are They Now? <\/p>\n