Meet Tommaso Boddi of BoddiPhotos in East Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to photographer Tommaso Boddi.

Tommaso, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Italy, more precisely in Florence. I was surrounded by artists, especially painters. I was pretty good at drawing, but I never had the patience to complete a picture. It wasn’t for me, I needed something immediate. I started skateboarding, and I bought my first skateboard magazine.

Looking at the photographs, I understood what I wanted to do. At first, I secretly took my father’s camera to take pictures of my friends skating, then my parents bought me a Yashica point and shoot. That camera didn’t last long, you couldn’t change lenses or be creative. My father finally decided to let me use his Canon AE1 and lenses as often as I wanted.

In 1997, I had my first photo published in a skateboard magazine. I worked as a freelance photographer for that magazine for almost ten years. I photographed fashion, made advertising campaigns and published some stories. I saved money and bought my first Leica. I realized that I had fallen in love with street photography and photojournalism.

I decided that this was going to be my career! I quit my engineering studies, and in 2007 I moved to New York. I assisted a photographer from the New York Times, I worked with some magazines and got married. Living in New York was not easy, I learned a lot there but had to pay my bills. We moved to Los Angeles and once there I had to start all over again. It was not easy to enter the world of photography.

At the beginning, I was photographing sporting events and here and there small jobs from Craigslist. But I didn’t let myself be demoralized, I had created a nice portfolio. Now I work as a freelance photojournalist covering news, Hollywood events and celebrity portraits on requests. It was hard, but it was worth it.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It certainly wasn’t easy. I left my home country, family and friends to fulfill a dream. I had to succeed. From the moment that digital photography came about, everyone was a photographer. Prices for a story were halved, and in New York, assignments went only to senior photographers.

For other jobs, you had to compete with photography students, who were supported by their parents and they worked for free. I got a part-time job and continued to work as a photographer as much as I could. In Los Angeles every weekend I was up at 3 am driving hundreds of miles to cover a marathon, I had to deliver the images right after.

Most of the time the same day I squeezed in a second shoot or a portrait session. The pay wasn’t much, but I was gaining experience and building a strong portfolio. In the middle of it all, I had to find the time for the assignments I received as a photojournalist. It was very hard, but I would do it all over again.

BoddiPhotos – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Well, the photo business has changed, you must work harder than ever to compete with social media sensations and talented photographers. I mostly cover events, Press conferences, concerts, award ceremonies, demonstrations and rallies. I’m a very creative person and I interact with people very well.

I was able to create a strong relationship with pretty much all my clients. Nowadays, I’m concentrating on fine art landscape photography. I experiment with different camera formats, from medium to large format. And I’m currently working in creating material for an upcoming book and photo exhibition.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I love my job, I’m able to travel the world taking pictures, I was able to turn a hobby into a carrier. Probably my proudest moment was in 2014 when I covered a mountain bike competition in the Utah desert. A photo I took of a guy executing a backflip over a canyon on a mountain bike, was chosen as one of the best sports photos of that year.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.boddiphotos.com
• Email: tommaso@boddiphotos.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/tommaso_boddi_photography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/boddiphotos
• Other: www.instagram.com/tommaso_boddi_entertainment

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