A part of me likes to stay mysterious while the other part is an open book. For the most part, I’ve created an “online personality” for the purpose of marketing my work. To present the work I do, I believe you need plenty of confidence and deliberateness. Just like wild predators, the viewers and critics can smell fear and self doubt, but at the same time they are attracted to someone who knows what they are doing. As an artist, I have to tell it how it should be rather than asking how you think I should make it. I have never been the type to look for a community of artists to share work with, instead, I only care about my own creations and interests while sharing it with the public. I don’t like to kiss ass with my clients, I don’t like giving disclaimers to justify a sub-par piece of work, I don’t like selling Photoshop Actions for an arm and leg, I just let my work do the talking.

There is an apparent disadvantage of creating an online personality – people will believe it and take you for what you present. This comes with many false assumptions about who I am. For the most part, I don’t care what people outside of my immediate circle thought of me, in fact, my goal was to create awe, envy and maybe even jealousy. I wish I could say my personal life was strictly separated from my work, but that is impossible and the lines are crossing more and more, as most of my acquaintances and so-called friends are people whom I’ve met through my work.

Long story short, while I still intend to keep the cocky, snobby, jerkish personality online, I meet many people in person who find it a relief to know that I am quite the opposite. While they realize I am a nice guy immediately, I still have to answer the same questions over and over – which brings me to the purpose of this entry. These are a few quick facts about the man behind the camera.

Personal Facts

I am a very shy and introverted person without a camera, and sometimes still shy with a camera.
I don’t talk to strangers or random girls, ever. They need to come up to me first.
I hate trivial conversations.
I don’t drink alcohol, and I have never done drugs.
I hate parties.
I have been single 98.148% of my life.
I am a hopeless romantic.
I do not sleep with models.
I kissed two girls in my entire life.
I always enjoy a good wedding.
I eat to live, not live to eat.
I have been told I am very gentle.
Some people call me Deadpan Tony, Tony Balogna, Turtle, ynot, T.
I have a very deadpan personality.
I have a dysfunctional family.
I will shoot my own destination wedding, with little to no guests.
I hate hearing all my female friends wanting me to be their wedding photographer if they ever find a man and get married. I hope you never find that person.
I have dry humor.
I love hotels.
I spend money like water.
I love driving more than photography.
I drive 25,000 miles a year.
I love really loud music to the point I can’t hear myself think.
I am always online.
I suck at math.
I have number dyslexia and terrible short term memory.

Professional Facts

I am a visual artist, majored in graphic design, graduated BFA from Mason Gross (Rutgers).
I can draw and paint, but I suck at sculpture.
I have been using Adobe Photoshop since 3.0 in 1994.
I started photography with 35mm film on my brother’s Canon Rebel.
Most of my models are not aspiring or professional models, they probably work in your office.
My modeling work is strictly a hobby and not a job, besides, aspiring models do not have money.
I search for models online, either through MySpace or Model Mayhem.
My most expensive hotels range from $600 – $800 per night.
I prefer shooting indoors with controlled lighting and privacy. If I had to shoot outdoors, I prefer a secluded beach on an exotic island.
I prefer working with 27-31 year old subjects.
I rarely use makeup artists.
I have been to 113 weddings since 2005.
I’m a PC.
I program in PHP and MySQL.
I work 9-5 in an office.
I hate Nikon skin tones.
I only shoot in JPEG.
I don’t use color profiles.
I don’t join forums and talk about photography. I take photos. Don’t be the second type of photographer.
I don’t buy new camera bodies just because it’s new. That makes you a measurebator.

Closing

I have recently been more motivated to get out and talk to people and let them discover who I am. I am an open book for anyone that genuinely wants to know more about me. I dare you to ask the personal questions, I urge you to express your feelings, I challenge you to intrigue me.

Addendum

I’ve been waiting forever to share this image. Here is a quote to be paired with the photograph.

I never cared to be known as the pretty girl. In fact, I’d rather be known as the lab geek or girl who can scarf down more In-N-Out burgers than all her boys. Just because I have modeled doesn’t mean I care to be known as a model. To me that title implies watching what you eat and I love food too much for that. I made sure Tony knew before we started working together a year and a half ago that I don’t fit the typical model mold. So let me attempt to rewrite that definition so that it is tailored to each individual. Me: I am strong – physically, mentally, emotionally – and I can rule the world in sweat pants and sneakers. Put me in front of or behind the camera and I’ll be equally satisfied. Put yourself in front of Tony’s camera and he’ll show you beauty is about how you feel.

Nicole

Victoria is Swiss, Irish, and Cuban, and she is signed by NEXT agency in Miami. She had the most upbeat energy out of all the other models, which create a different vibe in the photographs. As much as I love intimate and sensual photos, I started my modeling photography looking for happy-playful characters and have always loved the results. It is a rare treat to find someone who can be photogenic while being silly in front of the lens. When I want to create playful-sexy photos, I think about Alessandra Ambrosio’s Victoria’s Secret photos. Victoria also happens to have the most freckles on any girls I’ve ever captured, and that might have been one of the reasons for choosing her. One thing you might notice in my photos is that I love sheer tops and soft, light fabrics. It falls easily on the skin, and just as easily falls off the skin. With the proper lighting, it also shines through the fabric to reveal the silhouette of the body. Sheer fabrics also convey the sense of warmth and comfort.

These photos were taken at the same secret location on the next day. The number one reason why I chose the location was the outside bath tub, which really wasn’t private at all. All photos are 100% natural light.

This is my storage. 7.5 terabytes on RAID 5. I have 2 more terabytes upstairs. Nowadays, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next guy has more or twice the amount I have. These are two Thecus N5200 NAS on a gigabit connection. It’s fast. I strongly recommend anyone who doesn’t have external storage backups for your important documents and photos to invest in one. They can be bought for even under $100 for the basic models, which is nothing compared to the cost of data recovery services when you lose years of your personal photos from your desktop or laptop, which is a matter of time, not if. You can start by checking out Seagate FreeAgent which I recommended to a computer illiterate co-worker of mine, and she loved how easy it was with the included software. I use Vice Versa Pro to schedule automatic synchronization and backup of all photos from my desktop on a nightly basis. Even with this reliable storage, I don’t feel 100% at ease. I plan on buying more external drives, backing up everything, and storing them in a safe.

Please share any methods you have on backing up your most important documents.

I was listening to a famous female artist the other day, and thought how extremely talented she is, but wondered what did she do to herself after all these years, like all the other young rebellious artists that have been bombarded by the media. There seems to be a trend of a rising young star who starts out clean and wholesome, then after a few years of constant media barrages, they become the “bad boy/girl,” which not surprisingly, receives even more attention than being proper. This is obviously common knowledge and in the news every day, and unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know how the story goes.

While the thought ran through my head, it dawned upon me how I, as an artist, am not immune to such social demands either. I am not famous by any means, just well known around my small community – and while I refer to myself, I am really talking about my work that represents me. My personal life has always stayed private and does not reflect the work I present to the public.

I place myself in the middle of what I think is a “true artist” and a commercial artist. I don’t starve nor do I only produce deep and profound work that comes from my inner soul, and I also am not a slave to what the people want and producing happy, pretty, profitable work. I only create work that stirs up my emotions, imagination, fantasies, and sometimes just plain ol’ eye candy, while keeping a discernible distinction of what’s proper for the public and what’s not. To put it more technically, I only share about 1% of my work with the public, and the rest are for my eyes only (and the subject of course).

As a new artist, the easiest and fastest way to gain an audience and approval is to produce work for the masses. If you sing, that means writing a catchy melody, if you create visual images, that means creating something pretty, in most cases. I have been in the same position in my early stages of my people-photography career. When working with models, I cater to what they want. I learn many new skills in the process. I create more pretty images. I make people happy and want me even more, thus making me happy as well. So where am I now?

While I still believe I am in my early stages of photography, I feel like I’ve paid my dues in catering to people, and I have more audiences than I could ever count. With all the compliments and critiques I’ve been receiving about my work, the most overused description is “classy.”

“Your work is so classy!”

“I love how it’s so sexy yet classy.”

“I want classy photos too.”

I almost feel the pain of the other young artists who are probably bombarded by society’s imposed image of them being a wholesome individual who has a lot more potential to create more happy products to please the rest of them. I do appreciate the compliments, I really do. If I can push some limits and still have people label my work as “classy,” that means I am still accumulating fans, after all, numbers count!

My issue now lies within my lack of responsibility to cater to what people want. Just like the already rich and famous artists, they no longer need the money or approval of everyone, they have proven their skills once before, and now their rebellious side comes out.

What is my rebellious side? I am honestly sick of hearing about my work being classy. I know what my work is, I know how to present it, and I know how people respond to it. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear that word is “shut the hell up, you have no idea.” That is correct, you have no idea. Remember that 1%? You only see the top of the glacier when it comes to my work.

We all have our privacy and level of comfort when it comes to the topic of sex, from the simple distinction between male and female, to the visual stimulation of a body, to our own preference on how to please our sexual desires. This isn’t some underground culture that most people can only talk about, such as S&M. Everyone and their mom (yes, your mom too) has had sex, has an opinion on what’s sexy, and knows what stimulates their mind.

My interests is not to reveal the privacy of an individual, but to express the raw emotions and desires of people. I’ve captured everything from the simple beauty of a naked body, to the raunchy pornographic poses that most of you probably do in your own privacy in front of a partner, possibly in front of a cheap camera too! Too many people are caught up with definitions and classifications of work. “It’s okay to be nude as long as you look classy.” That’s a lame excuse to be nude. To me, classy has become boring and has many limitations.

Now that I’ve given a rough idea of the scope of work I produce, you might understand why someone that wants me to create sexy photos for them, yet limit me to a classification of staying classy, that I would turn them down upon hearing that magic word. Go find someone else just starting to create classy and safe images. My goal now is to breach the limits and boundaries of what an individual can allow to be captured on film, and while most of it will still stay private, I will continue to give my audience a glimpse of it.

Next time you’d like to give me a compliment on my photos, please choose something more descriptive and more creative than “classy.” I would really appreciate it.

I leave you with some encouragement:

update: I also forgot to mention the other word I hate. “Tasteful.”