About your guide...
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."
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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.
"The year in the Amazon was an unparalleled
adventure. After twelve months and 22,000 kilometers
later, 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."
Click Here to see
Tony's book "Where Madness Follows - The Search
for Gold in the Amazon Jungle"
Only a month after returning from the Amazon he traveled
to China and 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."
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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 DellčAnno 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
Wečre 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
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