Arts and Entertainment: Alexandra Borzo More than a Hobby

The Urban Vibe Newspaper
Story Article Interview published at the Urban Vibe Newspaper/Powered by Des Moines Area Community College/DMACC.
Officially Published on November 22, 2012
Interviewed by student staff writer: Bedor Mosa/Bedor Alobaidi

Photography, as a hobby, typically lends itself to solitary wanderings, capturing any beauty that the hobbyist might encounter. Some people have the impression that there is a trick in taking well-developed and great pictures. Nevertheless there is nothing more enjoyable than capturing picture of wonderful moments in everyday life, from nurture and all the beauty around the atmosphere especially in Des Moines, Iowa. However, photography for Alexandra Borzo as it started with her in pastime has improved a lot and well-developed into a social- and highly lucrative-career path.



Who is Alexandra Borzo? 

The twenty two years-old Alexandra Borzo was born and raised in Des Monies, Iowa. She grew up in such an educated artistic family as her father studied Fine Arts at Drake University, and her mother was in the Drama program a year behind her Husband’s David Borzo. Alexandra went to both Roosevelt High School and at Central Campus. After that she attended community college for two years and that was in both DMACC Urban Campus, and Ankeny campus. Also she was a part-time student at Iowa State University for one year, but she has not completed her degree yet. 

Besides from that Borzo’s said, “ I haven’t finished my degree yet because I just got busy with traveling, pursuing my photography habits with my friends and clients and was working on certain projects at the same time in which all they kept me busy for attending school as how it supposed to be before in tow years ago, but am now looking for a new university to which to transfer; as I really want to major in either foreign language ( German or Spanish ), or in linguistics field as a second choice to go for.”

Borzo has also mentioned magnificent highlights into her main hobby,

“Photography” and since when she started pursuing this career?

 Alexandra told The Vibe “I started pursuing photography when I was at Iowa State, in 2007 and 2008. My priority was never to make it my main career, but to enjoy it as a creative outlet and as an activity to do with friends.” 

She also spoke to us about her favorite aspect in doing photography and what does it mean to her on the other hand and she said, “My favorite aspect of photography is interacting with my models. I have the most fun, and create my best product, when I have some rapport with whomever I’m photographing.” She also added saying that she enjoys photography which is “unique” to the model-or “the model/photographer dynamic.” As we see from Borzo’s perspective about photography that this type of personality “Alexandra’s” personality in a shot can be achieved with communication between the people who are involved in her talented touches by photographing them in her special-artistic techniques and uniqueness in which also makes her different than other photographers who attempt to take Photography as their professional career.  

Therefore, Alexandra has done good amount of other mastered-pieces in photography such as (Body Paint) and, Lighting effects with body paint as well. “I have particularly enjoyed body paint,” Alexandra’s said. “Also, using my models as my canvas to portray a certain theme, and therefore hope to hone my skills with paint.”  

One of Borzo's models.Taken in Iowa, Des Monies. 

Now, originally, photography proved a means for Borozo to capture moments with friends, and as way for her to achieve the faces and facets of each companion she made through adolescence. Come her late-teens, however, she found her hobby budding into noteworthy skill, and shortly thereafter found people to be interested in hiring her for portrait and event photography. After experimenting with a great number of types of photography, Borzo became all more certain that, as always, she most enjoyed photographing “friends and family.” The nature of the photos, however, could range from any “look” to any subject matter, as her creativity was seemingly forever at work. “ I think covering a friend or a client in paper mache, painting them from head to toe, or simply showing off a new dress, the model and photographer in this case were both always happiest when friendship preceded the event,” Alexandra Borzo’s said.

As the reader moves forward into much deeper concepts of Borzo’s photography he and she will find that Alexandra not only well-skilled in photography and body paint themes that takes a place either from movie, or carton characters, showing people’s suffer in different meanings into these themes in which the last one has taken a place in political images from Alexandra’s analysis and her models interests at the same time.

But why, she would be interested in profiling such a complex and controversial topics and interpreting them in her body paints-photography, why, and what’s her main goal in creating these subjects in her business and what could the political image add to her overall experience.

Borzo said,” I particularly enjoy photography with a widely-intelligible message, and have gone so far to approach religious and political themes.” 

She also added by saying “ I have had projects as benign as capturing the Seven Cardinal Sins, to projects which are far more controversial-like suggesting that there has been disproportionate judgment and lack of understanding toward Muslims Americans throughout the early 2000s. 
Regardless what the message, I try to make my message and points of view perfectly clear.”




Model Katarzyna Kutwin

Above all else, we also went back to the main subject which is pursuing photography as a hobby, not as her career to maintain and asked her, Do you still think that photography is your favorite hobby but not as a professional career path to follow and run it as your own business after all you’ve done in the past until now days? She answered The Vibe with a big smile and said,

 “I really do still prefer to keep my photography tied down as a hobby, albeit one that takes most of my free-time! However, if I decided to pursue it more commercially, I fear that I would have to succumb to shooting types of work that I find uninteresting.”

  



Model Katarzyna Kutwin

“I really do still prefer to keep my photography tied down as a hobby, albeit one that takes most of my free-time! However, if I decided to pursue it more commercially, I fear that I would have to succumb to shooting types of work that I find uninteresting.”  Alexandra Borzo. 

Borzo would absolutely love if there is any possibility and opportunity to exhibit her work, but she wouldn’t necessarily anticipate “much money from it”, but to have the opportunity to walk people around , poin out various pieces, and talk about what she was trying to express, and what went into creating it. “It would be wonderful why not?” J Borzo’s said.

Other than running her freelance in photography (In Toto Photo), she works full-time in a Walgreen's photo lab, and if nothing else it gives her access to discounted prints of her own work. 

For more information about Borzo’s photography and to view more of her work please go ahead and visit the following links:

http://intotophoto.com/