{"product_id":"bell-pond","title":"Bell Pond","description":"\u003cp class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-justify para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003eBell Pond\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edocuments the summer of 1983 at a public swimming pond in Worcester, Massachusetts, where DiRado spent months photographing the community that gathered there. Arriving one afternoon on a whim during an early heat wave, he introduced himself to anyone willing to pay attention—and kept coming back. Working with a large-format camera on a tripod, he distributed prints, and slowly became part of the community's fabric, earning the trust of those who might otherwise have had little reason to give it. That trust was hard won and freely returned—by summer's end, DiRado had become a fixture, his daily arrival an event in itself.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-justify para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003eThe resulting portraits are unparalleled in their intimacy—and together they build a vivid portrait of the place and its inhabitants. DiRado moved between families, friends, couples, and individuals—capturing the textures of a working-class community that claimed Bell Pond as its own. The work is a timestamp of a world before the internet and the endless digital reproduction of likenesses. Through DiRado's lens, these lives are given weight and permanence—crystallized on film in a way the world around them rarely afforded. Whole stories exist within each frame, and the mystery of what we'll never fully know pushes to the foreground. DiRado stayed close to many of his subjects long after that summer ended, invested in them as people, not just as photographs.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-justify para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003eWhat runs through every image is DiRado's deep humanism. These are people society too often passes over, and here they are seen clearly, without sentimentality, and without looking away.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003eHardcover with dust jacket\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003e126 pages\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003e65 plates\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003e9 x 11 in\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003ePublished by TBW\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003eThis title is a preorder, shipping October 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"TBW Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44170697080919,"sku":"TBW-Bell","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1781\/2331\/files\/bellpond.jpg?v=1786812782","url":"https:\/\/charcoalbookclub.com\/products\/bell-pond","provider":"Charcoal Book Club","version":"1.0","type":"link"}