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Beau's Journey » 2008 » August » 14

Archive: August 14th, 2008

Sue Henry Is Putting Together A Photography Club In Paducah!!

  I just received this email from Sue Henry.  Sounds good!

Have you ever —

  • wished you could get together with other local photographers to "talk shop?’
  • wished you could learn more about photography by attending informative presentations?
  • wished you get constructive feedback and comments on your photos?
  • wished you could learn new tips and techniques to improve your photos or the processing of those photos?
  • wished you could go on photo outings with other photographers?
  • wished you could share what you know about photography with others?

Now you CAN fulfill those wishes (and perhaps even more) by joining a new group that is organizing in the Paducah/Purchase Area. 

Take note of the who, what, when, and where’s.

 

WHO:  Any person interested in photography (all skill levels welcome)

 

WHAT:  A BRAND NEW Photography Group/Club (official name TBD)

 

WHEN:  Organizational meeting Monday Sept 15th at 7:00 pm

         

(Meetings thereafter will be on the first Monday evening of each month)

 

WHERE:   McCracken County Public Library – Community Room, second floor
555 Washington Street
Paducah, KY 42003

Contact person: Sue Henry – 519-1427
sue_henry@comcast.net

August 14, 2008: Rome, Italy

  Here are some more photographs that I took this afternoon.  Most of these are in the downtown Rome area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 14, 2008: Going out with National Geographic tomorrow morning…

  Should be an interesting day ahead (Friday).  I am going out with Tony Boccaccio.  Tony is the artist in residence who both directs Imaging In Italy and leads the photography tours. His career began with National Geographic Magazine in 1971. A world-class photographer, presenter and teacher, Tony has photographed in over 30 countries in as many years with a client list that is straight from the Fortune 500. Fluent in Italian and familiar with Italian culture and history, he is the ultimate combination of photographer, artist, guide and coach.  That is from his site.

  Tony Boccaccio began his career with National Geographic Magazine in 1971. Since then, his camera has taken him to over thirty countries in as many years. Like most photographers, he is a series of contrasts: His lens has captured the frozen landscapes of Iceland and the sweltering jungles of the Amazon. He is probably most known for his beautiful travel photography, yet while working with the human figure, his sensitivity rivals that of the great painters. Indeed, his artistic life began as a young painter trained in the classical manner. He studied classical piano at the prestigious Eastman School of Music and taught himself to play the bluegrass banjo. He lived in Brazil as a teenager and Italy as a college student. In 1995, he returned to Rome, Italy to continue painting and to learn how to sculpt in the classical manner under one of Rome’s most gifted sculptors, Alessandro Nocera.

"Painting was my first passion. My grandmother catapulted me into oil painting when I was only 12 years old. To get me out of her hair one day, she sent me to Washington Square Park in New York City loaded up with canvas, brushes, paints and easel. I told her I did not know how to paint; she told me to just put the canvas up, look cute, and all the old ladies in the park would gather around to teach me. That is exactly what happened and by the time I was 16, I was painting on commissions and selling my work for more than the monthly mortgage payment on our home. I discovered the camera when I was 17. My high school art teacher took me into the darkroom to see how printing was done. When I saw that first image miraculously appear I was hooked. That night I announced to my family that I was no longer going to paint, that I was going to be a photographer. My father, old Italian that he was, almost killed me, since I gave half of all my commissions to him. My mother intervened and the rest is history."

While a student at the University of Rochester, he was invited by the director of photography at Eastman Kodak to spend time with their photographers who provided him with valuable training, free film and development for four years. This opportunity proved invaluable and eventually led to working with National Geographic Magazine

Boccaccio’s very first photograph was of taken of the Orion constellation on one cold December night. He was only 13 years old and had just purchased his first camera, a Mark IV plastic box camera. His hobby at the time was astronomy. He took the camera apart and rigged it to make time exposures of the stars. He still has the negative!

"I believe this first impulse to point my camera upward, to the heavens, is what set the framework for my future photography: to capture what can’t easily be seen by the naked eye. To capture the mystery and beauty of the world around me."

From Iceland to the Amazon
While on assignment in Iceland for National Geographic Magazine, he fell off the Surtsey volcano into the Arctic Ocean. It was October and the water was below freezing. His young Icelandic guide jumped into the surf and pulled him out unconscious and not breathing. He gave him mouth to mouth and a half bottle of good Irish whisky to revive him. During the same assignment, he crashed in a plane but he and his pilot survived to tell the story.

"I put the camera on automatic with a 250 photo magazine and turned it on just before we hit. The camera flew around the cabin clicking away until it jammed at number 86! At Geographic the only thing that counts is getting the shot!"

In 1972, he read a small article in the New York Times about the construction of the TransAmazonic highway, an impressive road cut across the Amazon jungle. Without hesitation, he dropped everything and headed off into the world’s largest rainforest. He survived a forest fire, a boat sinking, a gold miner who tried to have him shot and was lost in the jungle alone for 3 days until by chance a helicopter pilot saw him and brought him back to civilization. He returned in 1998 and spent one year photographing the story of the gold miners and their search for gold in the Amazon and the resulting social and ecological destruction of the region. The work, entitled "Where Madness Follows – The Search for Gold in the Amazon Jungle",  is  presently being considered for publication as well as for a TV documentary by Canal Azul in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"The year in the Amazon was an unparalleled adventure. In the twelve months and 22,000 kilometers of travel I shot over 17 thousand photographs. I met extraordinary people throughout the Amazon basin – gold miners, settlers, missionaries, soldiers, politicians, adventurers, colonists, engineers, and Indians – and collected the most interesting stories from these men, women and children who were swept up into the gold rush in the Amazon, perhaps the greatest and last gold rush of the Twentieth Century."

Only a month after returning from the Amazon he traveled to China spent four months photographing the land and its people for his stock agency, Getty Images/The Image Bank.

"China was amazing! The hardest part of the trip was the language barrier. The only thing I knew how to say in Chinese was "Hello" and "Thank you", but the Chinese people were warm, hospitable and always willing to help me get around. From Hong Kong to Guilin and Beijing, from Shanghai to Fuzhou, I was somehow found by people who were willing to help me get the photos I wanted. But, after a year in the Amazon and then 4 more months in China, I was beat. I slept 16 hours a day for 2 months when I returned home. My friends thought I was depressed, but I was just worn out from all the traveling."

CLIENTS – AWARDS – EXHIBITIONS – REPRESENTATION

His photography is represented worldwide by Getty Images / The Image Bank and JupiterImages / WorkbookStock.   His photography is in the Neikrug Gallery’s New York permanent collection of fine art.

Boccaccio has served as an associate professor in the department of Computer Education at Gonzaga University in Washington State, taught Photography and Visual Thinking at Spokane Falls Community College and served as a member its Advertising Arts Advisory Board. He has a Masters of Education from Gonzaga University.

SOME CLIENTS:
National Geographic Magazine, Time Magazine, Eastman Kodak Company, McGraw Hill, Saturday Evening Post, Psychology Today, Natural History Magazine, British Broadcasting Company UK, Digital Microwave Corporation, Reader’s Digest, Hewlett Packard Corporation, Fortune, Washington Evergreen Magazine, The Smithsonian, Dana Perfume Corporation, Hilton Hotels, Vogel Associates, Franciscan Communications, Holt Rinehart Winston, Apple Computer, CBS Records, Newsweek Magazine, Simon & Schuster, H.T.H. Corporation Japan, Banco do Brazil S.A., Montreal Engenieria S.A., Brazil Invision, Ltd., IBM, Woman’s Day Magazine, East / West Magazine, Doubleday, Inc., Ikegami, Inc., Independent Minds, UK.

PUBLICATIONS:
Il Libro Dell¹Anno ­ Loyola University Rome Campus Yearbook,. Rome, Italy (Limited Edition 1971)
Beyond Service – Eastman Kodak Company (1985)
Conquering the Amazon: Brazil’s Jungle Highway – Gannet Publishing (1973)
Where Madness Follows: The Search For Gold In The Amazon Jungle
The Marvels of Animal Behavior – 1972 National Geographic Society
This Changing Earth – January 1973 National Geographic Magazine
We¹re Doing Something About The Weather – National Geographic Magazine April 1972
The Great Lakes – National Geographic Magazine August 1973
The Rebirth of Mount St. Helens – National Geographic Traveler
Am I Free? – Argus Communications Book
Street Urchins of Colombia – Natural History Magazine
Sports Photography – Eastman Kodak Company
Hawaii – The Land and the People – Gallery Books, New York
The West – Images of America – Gallery Books, New York
Understanding the New Testament – Franciscan Communication Center
The Mass – A Catholic Perspective – Franciscan Communication Center
Mary: A Woman For Our Time – Teleketics, Franciscan Communications
The Kodak Book of 35mm Photography – Eastman Kodak
Faces of Washington – Washington Evergreen Magazine

CINEMATOGRAPHIC WORK:
Los Gamines (Colombia) Documentary for Don Bosco Films, NY
The Dream (Brazil) Documentary for Don Bosco Films, NY
All The Questions – Promotional film for Eastman Kodak Company

August 14, 2008: Around the City of Rome

  We spent the day walking around.  Temperatures were between 95-105 degrees all day.  So, it was warm!  BEAUTIFUL sky though, not a cloud in it.  Just blue sky! 

  The forecast is for heavy rain and storms tomorrow as we travel northward into Venice.  They even mentioned some severe weather.

  Took a bunch of photos today…no time to go through them.  Here are a few though.  🙂

 


Pathion – you can see the sunlight coming through the rooftop.

 


Some of my clothing models 🙂

 

 

 

 

 


David and Joey walking down one of the streets in Rome

 

 

 

 


Me in front of the Pathion

 

 

 

 

 


Beau – Mihai – Joey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Cheetah, of course, had a great time.  HI KRISTY 🙂

 

 

 

August 14, 2008: Rome

  Warm morning outside.  It is 8 AM here and about 1 AM back home in Kentucky.  Sort of tired, but hopefully I will wake up after I take a shower!  Maybe get something to eat.

  This is a nice hotel building a block down the street from us.  Thought the building was cool.