About Vince Alongi / D. Vincent Alongi  

In my younger years, photography was a hobby that I would try to pursue whenever my pocket could afford it. I remember back in the 70s when I lived in Port Moody, B.C., my first 35mm SLR camera being a Russian made Zenit that I wish I still had, and mounting a lab in the bathroom to develop and print my own stuff. Lucky for me, along came three wonderful children that would serve as the most interesting subjects of my trial and errors with the camera. I can still hear the words of my now almost 30-year-old son every time I picked up the camera: "picture me dad!"

My first opportunity to work professionally as a photographer also came in the 70s for the federal prisons system, photographing admissions with a 4x5 Crown Graphic and other, often gruesome, incidents with a Rollei Twin Lens Reflex, which in my opinion produces some of the sharpest images I've ever seen in a medium format.



I received my first formal training in photography later on as a police officer in Delta, B.C. It was one of the applied sciences I had to learn to become a forensics technician. In this field, my experience as a photographer continued to be rather specific. Portraiture, for the most part, was unimaginative -your subjects would always have to pose the same way, and the dialogue would sound like: "look straight at the camera, don’t smirk!"... snap! -followed by a "now turn to the left!" and snap! -again. The lighting, the distance the exposure settings were always the same. Perfect results, almost always, if you didn't mind the appearance of your subject.

But police photography is not limited to just mug shots. Challenges came in the most unpredictable ways, as having to take a chalk outlined person's last photograph or the scene of a car accident in the middle of the night. Here you had to adapt to the conditions, often not too pleasant or safe, and make sure your shot would turn out since there wouldn't be another chance. Certain creativity and good command of your camera would also come in handy when photographing objects such as broken glass, bloodstains, smudges, rooms in disarray and other evidence, but generally it was all text book stuff. Then there was macro photography, basically extreme close ups, almost microscopic, of identifying marks on a bullet or a casing, a tool imprint, a partial fingerprint, striations or engravings. In our arsenal of cameras, my weapon of choice was the Minolta Maxxum 7000.



Currently, my work is in the field of journalism photography. Events and handshakes are the norm. At times it can be very challenging since you have no control over the situation, the lighting conditions, the distances, who gets in the way, and often you have to anticipate the action in order to get the shot. Armed with a Nikon D100, and shooting at a rate of three frames per second, chances are the picture I want will be there.

But it is not all work. Now in my spare time, I am trying to experiment with other types of photography. It is an ongoing learning process, and the continued tutorship of award winning photographer and friend, Dave Roberts ARPS, is a valuable source of inspiration for me. If anything at all I've learned during all these years is that the camera does not make a photographer. In fact, no matter what camera you use, from a disposable point-and-shoot to the most sophisticated digital, it is not the quality of the image that makes the shot, but rather the moment, its composition and framing, what it conveys and how artistically gifted the person looking through the viewfinder is. Not easy, but I'll keep trying. I routinely carry a Fujifilm Finepix E500 or a Canon Powershot SD1000 in my pocket because as the saying goes, "better to have a camera and not need it than to need one and not have it." I call it "my throw-away piece"

In the end, be it police photography or journalism, nature or wildlife, advertising or any other type, we should consider ourselves extremely fortunate those of us who are able to make a living with the hobby that we love. Thank you for viewing my Flickr photostream, I appreciate all your comments and invitations. Although I don't normally respond to each comment, I make it a point to visit each photostream. I also encourage you to view my collection of photos from other Flickr members: My Favorites. (These are photos I wish I had taken.)

Other cameras I use: Fujifilm Finepix S700 / S5700 and Fujifilm Finepix A820

Hometown: Ottawa, Canada

Working in: Montevideo, Uruguay

Photo sets: Most Viewed | In Explore | Most Interesting | Viewers' Favs | Flowers and macros | Portraits | Children | People | Christmas | Montevideo | Punta del Este | Colonia, Uruguay | Punta del Diablo | The Uruguayan countryside | Uruguay by the sea | Ottawa | Cumberland Museum | Carnival in Montevideo | Skies and clouds | Trees | Objects | Old cars and trucks | Flags | USS Mitscher | Fujifilm Finepix E500 | Fujifilm Finepix A820 | Fujifilm Finepix S700 S5700 | Canon Powershot SD1000 | Cellphone | CSI



View my most interesting photos on black

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The following list of contacts includes people whose photos I enjoy the most. I invite you to visit their photostreams: