Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Anthony Iezzi with me. Welcome, Anthony.
Anthony Iezzi: Thank you, Toni. This is a pleasure to be here. My name is Anthony Iezzi, and I am the owner of Iezzi Photography, LLC. I’ve been in business for about 35 years. I’m a commercial photographer. I enjoy photographing historical sites and people. I am married. I have a lovely wife, Harriet. I have three children; twin boys, and a daughter—Peter, Brian, and Christina. They’re all grown now and out of the house. I enjoy photographing Philadelphia, the Amish Country, and Berks County. It’s a real pleasure to be here this morning, Toni.
Toni: Thank you for showing up for the Project. Let’s go into the Project. Anthony, what does inspiration mean to you?
Anthony: Well Toni, to be honest with you, I took time yesterday to look this word up in the dictionary. I never use this word as far as in reference to my business, but I always use the word “passion.” I correlate both those words, inspiration and passion, together. It’s a love. It’s a drive. It’s a force inside me that gets me excited, gets my adrenaline going, and I enjoy waking up each day to see what’s in store for me.
Toni: You believe inspiration fuels that passion.
Anthony: Yes.
Toni: When was the last time you were inspired?
Anthony: Yesterday.
Toni: Really? How so?
Anthony: Well, I met with a client, and we had a discussion about a photo job. The client was very, very interested, and that opens up my thought process to accomplish the goals. I was inspired, and my passion is going to kick in.
Toni: That’s fantastic. That gives a little hint into how you do that, but with this having inspiration drive a passion—which is a really cool way to describe that—how do you put that into practice here in Berks County?
Anthony: I was born and raised here in Berks County my whole life. I’ve always enjoyed this area. There’s a lot of historical sites and beauty. I think the Lord created such a beautiful area and the different seasons, the different activities excite me to want to photograph them and record them, and that stimulates my passion.
Toni: Are there historical sites in Berks County that are better photographed in different seasons? I would imagine just like anything, they would be.
Anthony: When I go out to a site, I usually evaluate the position of the site or of the people in relationship to the time of the day, shadows, time of the year, and depending on what I want to capture, those factors all enter into the process. Are there more beautiful sites than others? That’s in the eyes of the beholder.
Toni: That’s a great answer. What’s your favorite?
Anthony: What’s my favorite? I like to photograph images with people in it, with background that tells a complete story. It depends on the people and the place. I like rustic outdoors, and I also like urban scenes, also. It depends. I like it all.
Toni: Okay, great. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Anthony: I thought about this question. There are a few people that I have thought about, but my real inspiration came for me when I was in between college semesters back in 1977. I had the opportunity to take a trip to Nova Scotia to Peggy’s Cove with my camera, and I was just mesmerized by the beauty that our Creator created in such a beautiful sunset that I came back, and my decision about either being an accountant or a photographer was definitive. I went towards being a photographer. Along that route, there were people that encouraged me. George Miser encouraged me and some others encouraged me to pursue that because I started taking pictures for postcards, and they were received really well back then.
Toni: Anybody else in Berks County that inspires you?
Anthony: As a businessperson, Mr. Boscov inspires me somewhat. The diligence that he does and the persistence. His character continues to give me courage to go forward.
Toni: It’s interesting. His name comes up a lot during these interviews. What would you like your legacy to be?
Anthony: I don’t really pursue that as a front mind thought. What’s interesting is I collect old postcards, and I think that maybe years from now, someone will pick up one of my postcards and go, “I’m curious about this person,” and look into it. My legacy to the future generations would be if you have a passion for something, that’s the key and a signal and a flag to pursue that, be it photography, be it anything in the arts, or in any other aspect. Pursue your passion, because I think that’s a God-given gift to me and a God-given gift to other people, such as interviewing people. I think your passion and your heart can guide you, and my legacy for the future generations is to figure that out and pursue it.
Toni: That is a phenomenal answer. I also am struck by the fact that you also are creating a legacy with every picture you take.
Anthony: I didn’t think about that.
Toni: You are, and with old postcards and historic sites, you are preserving other people’s legacy, and that’s your legacy as well.
Anthony: Part of my sales pitch, if I may, is today we have cell phones and we have lots of digital images, and for a client I say, what do we do with these digital images 100 years from now? Where will they be? Will they be in the phone junkyard? A postcard is something that will last. Think on that.
Toni: How cool is it that you are preserving as your legacy, the legacy of others?
Anthony: That’s neat.
Toni: Yeah. How about that? Thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Anthony: Thank you very much, Toni.
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Anthony Iezzi with me. Welcome, Anthony.
Anthony Iezzi: Thank you, Toni. This is a pleasure to be here. My name is Anthony Iezzi, and I am the owner of Iezzi Photography, LLC. I’ve been in business for about 35 years. I’m a commercial photographer. I enjoy photographing historical sites and people. I am married. I have a lovely wife, Harriet. I have three children; twin boys, and a daughter—Peter, Brian, and Christina. They’re all grown now and out of the house. I enjoy photographing Philadelphia, the Amish Country, and Berks County. It’s a real pleasure to be here this morning, Toni.
Toni: Thank you for showing up for the Project. Let’s go into the Project. Anthony, what does inspiration mean to you?
Anthony: Well Toni, to be honest with you, I took time yesterday to look this word up in the dictionary. I never use this word as far as in reference to my business, but I always use the word “passion.” I correlate both those words, inspiration and passion, together. It’s a love. It’s a drive. It’s a force inside me that gets me excited, gets my adrenaline going, and I enjoy waking up each day to see what’s in store for me.
Toni: You believe inspiration fuels that passion.
Anthony: Yes.
Toni: When was the last time you were inspired?
Anthony: Yesterday.
Toni: Really? How so?
Anthony: Well, I met with a client, and we had a discussion about a photo job. The client was very, very interested, and that opens up my thought process to accomplish the goals. I was inspired, and my passion is going to kick in.
Toni: That’s fantastic. That gives a little hint into how you do that, but with this having inspiration drive a passion—which is a really cool way to describe that—how do you put that into practice here in Berks County?
Anthony: I was born and raised here in Berks County my whole life. I’ve always enjoyed this area. There’s a lot of historical sites and beauty. I think the Lord created such a beautiful area and the different seasons, the different activities excite me to want to photograph them and record them, and that stimulates my passion.
Toni: Are there historical sites in Berks County that are better photographed in different seasons? I would imagine just like anything, they would be.
Anthony: When I go out to a site, I usually evaluate the position of the site or of the people in relationship to the time of the day, shadows, time of the year, and depending on what I want to capture, those factors all enter into the process. Are there more beautiful sites than others? That’s in the eyes of the beholder.
Toni: That’s a great answer. What’s your favorite?
Anthony: What’s my favorite? I like to photograph images with people in it, with background that tells a complete story. It depends on the people and the place. I like rustic outdoors, and I also like urban scenes, also. It depends. I like it all.
Toni: Okay, great. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Anthony: I thought about this question. There are a few people that I have thought about, but my real inspiration came for me when I was in between college semesters back in 1977. I had the opportunity to take a trip to Nova Scotia to Peggy’s Cove with my camera, and I was just mesmerized by the beauty that our Creator created in such a beautiful sunset that I came back, and my decision about either being an accountant or a photographer was definitive. I went towards being a photographer. Along that route, there were people that encouraged me. George Miser encouraged me and some others encouraged me to pursue that because I started taking pictures for postcards, and they were received really well back then.
Toni: Anybody else in Berks County that inspires you?
Anthony: As a businessperson, Mr. Boscov inspires me somewhat. The diligence that he does and the persistence. His character continues to give me courage to go forward.
Toni: It’s interesting. His name comes up a lot during these interviews. What would you like your legacy to be?
Anthony: I don’t really pursue that as a front mind thought. What’s interesting is I collect old postcards, and I think that maybe years from now, someone will pick up one of my postcards and go, “I’m curious about this person,” and look into it. My legacy to the future generations would be if you have a passion for something, that’s the key and a signal and a flag to pursue that, be it photography, be it anything in the arts, or in any other aspect. Pursue your passion, because I think that’s a God-given gift to me and a God-given gift to other people, such as interviewing people. I think your passion and your heart can guide you, and my legacy for the future generations is to figure that out and pursue it.
Toni: That is a phenomenal answer. I also am struck by the fact that you also are creating a legacy with every picture you take.
Anthony: I didn’t think about that.
Toni: You are, and with old postcards and historic sites, you are preserving other people’s legacy, and that’s your legacy as well.
Anthony: Part of my sales pitch, if I may, is today we have cell phones and we have lots of digital images, and for a client I say, what do we do with these digital images 100 years from now? Where will they be? Will they be in the phone junkyard? A postcard is something that will last. Think on that.
Toni: How cool is it that you are preserving as your legacy, the legacy of others?
Anthony: That’s neat.
Toni: Yeah. How about that? Thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Anthony: Thank you very much, Toni.
