Life as a photographer and firefighter
Avid photographer Tony Stacey leads two lives.
During the day he is a highly qualified paramedic, firefighter and rescue technician at the Boksburg Fire Department. When he’s not in his emergency service outfit, he’s a professional photographer, who has been running his own photographic business, called Moments in Time, for about 10 years.
“It’s doing well and I love being able to meet new people and have new opportunities present themselves to me through photography,” said Stacey, who is a member of the Boksburg Camera Club.
He was born and raised in Boksburg, where he still resides. He is not married, but in a relationship with “the most incredible woman”.
He finds time to relax by doing oil paintings of his photos, DIY jobs on his house and getting out on the water in his kayak.
Stacey started in the emergency services as a volunteer when he was in school, and loved it from the first second he walked into the fire station.
“It taught me a good sense of responsibility and discipline,” he said.
As a rescue technician, he is often part of the South African team sent around the world to aid in disaster areas.
“Being able to save someone and make a positive difference to a person’s life is a positive highlight; being part of a specialised urban search and rescue unit is definitely a highlight, too,”he commented.
Stacey’s love for photography started from childhood and he has been doing it seriously for over 10 years now.
He is a respected member of the local camera club, which he joined about 15 years ago, because he wanted to meet people in the same field in a social setting.
Stacey used to be part of the Benoni Camera Club and the PSSA (Photographic Society of South Africa). He has won a few awards for his photography, but said he is really not in it for the awards.
He also has his honours in photography from the PSSA.
He enjoys photographing people as his subject, weddings, models, sports, corporate events and photo-journalism.
Stacey does altered reality as well, which is basically manipulating an image or set of images into a new image, which tells a story. This requires a good knowledge of Photoshop.
He said his photography has changed with time.
“It’s always good to keep pushing the limits of your abilities and trying new things,” he explained, adding that the digital era has added to this change.
“The ability to instantly see the results of what you are photographing has a huge impact on a person’s style of photography; it also allows you to experiment more.”
Even though it’s difficult to single out Stacey’s most difficult photoshoot “as they all have their own level of difficulty”, one of his most exciting projects was with the Parlotones.
Being able to work shifts in the emergency services industry helps Stacey to balance his two careers.
“I find that the photography helps to relax me and is a great way to de-stress from the work at the fire station. Balancing the two is pretty easy, as I try to book shoots on my off-duty time,” he said.
As these two careers are wide apart, each brings out different personality traits and emotions.
“As a fire fighter it helps me being able to think clearly and not panic in pressure or stressful situations. Photography has a good sense of accomplishment – when doing a good shoot, it gives a rewarding feeling,” said Stacey.
Stacey still has big dreams for his photographic career and said that a Pulitzer Prize for photo-journalism would be “awesome”.
His advice to aspirant photographers is to “never give up and always try making your next photograph better than your last one”.
