Star status: Altoona native’s photos of celebrities on display at SAMA
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Tim Boyles has taken photographs of hundreds of celebrities from Taylor Swift to Paul McCartney and Leonardo DiCaprio. But don't confuse the Altoona native with the paparazzi.
"I'm not chasing Tyra Banks," Boyles said, pointing to a picture on his studio wall in downtown Altoona that he took of the model sitting at a makeup mirror in Florida a few years ago. "Tyra Banks is posing for me."
More than 80 of his photographs are part of an exhibition, "Tim Boyles: Celebrity Status," on display at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Altoona now through Oct. 14.
"Tim Boyles walked into my office cold, off the street, with his portfolio. I booked him on the spot, not knowing anything about his background, education, credentials or previous exhibitions," said Barbara Hollander, coordinator for SAMA-Altoona. "This has only happened two other times in my 12 years of curating shows."
She said she was impressed not only with Boyles' "mastery of his medium," but how close he physically was to the stars he photographed.
"Tim is living the life that all of us groupies wish we could," Hollander said. "I thank him for a little piece of these celebrities that he is willing to share with our viewers."
Justin Bieber, Burt Reynolds, Mick Jagger, Kim Kardashian and Ed Sheeran are among the subjects in the exhibition.
No clue
Growing up in the Fairview neighborhood, Boyles, now 57, "never dreamed" he would have the career he has had. He attended Fairview Elementary, Keith Junior High and Altoona Area High School, where he played football and wrestled. He graduated in 1977, took jobs close to home and rode deserted mountain roads to keg parties.
He got a "nice job" working the pharmacy at Altoona Hospital, but he got bumped due to seniority.
"The next thing I know I'm on third trick mopping floors," he said.
That motivated him to visit his cousin, a Navy recruiter in State College, and he enlisted, considerably older, wiser and more mature than the other new enlistees.
"They give you a book to look through and test you to see what you're good at," Boyles recalled. "I could've done anything, such as nuclear weaponry. But photojournalism sounded like a lot of fun. … Here I am, an E-1, little guy, but I'm a journalist and the admiral is paying attention to me because I'm taking his picture."
He studied photojournalism and spent his entire seven-year military career at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. He didn't spend a single day on a ship, owing to the base's air duty. But he was in a lot of anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft called P-3, even flying one once, which was "totally unauthorized," he said with a sheepish grin.
After the Navy, Boyles earned his bachelor's degree from nearby Western Washington University in 1991 and came back home to Altoona to work. After about six years with WTAJ-TV, Boyles applied for a job in Tampa, Florida.
Moving south
"They flew me down there in November and rented me a car. I drove around for a few days and said, 'I'm taking this job, I don't care how much it pays,'" he said.
Boyles worked for a 24-hour cable news station in Tampa for another half-dozen years when he butted heads with new management and got fired. He still had six months remaining on his contract, which the company bought out.
"I went fishing for six months," he said. "I didn't panic. I wasn't married, didn't have babies to feed. I started taking pictures again," something he hadn't done since his Navy days.
Using a new digital camera, he picked up small photography jobs, mostly beach weddings. He was looking for other freelance opportunities when he cold-called Getty Images, a prestigious stock photo agency that works worldwide.
"They said, 'Nothing ever happens in Tampa, but we'll call you if we need you,'" Boyles recalled. "Three days later, they called me."
New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi had called a press conference at the team's spring training facility in Tampa, during which he denied using steroids, and Getty hired Boyles to shoot the event.
"I hadn't shot a press conference really ever," Boyles said.
Perfect position
He described how aggressive other professional photographers behaved and he decided to take a step back. Then he framed the perfect photo: Giambi moved his head in front of the Yankees logo so it looked like he was wearing its Uncle Sam hat, and his mouth was the perfect frown that matched the lines of the hat's brim.
"The next day, Getty called me and told me the New York tabloids had picked it up and run it," Boyles said. "I was in."
He covered other news events for Getty in Florida, including Hurricane Charley, the second costliest hurricane in United States history at the time, and the famous right-to-die court case of Terri Schiavo, a woman in a coma with family members fighting over her end-of-life wishes. He shot a few drug busts and sports events.
When the entertainment division of Getty called Boyles to shoot a local appearance of DiCaprio, it set in motion a series of jobs that are the subject of his SAMA exhibition.
"Getty doesn't fool around," Boyles said. "If you don't hit deadlines and turn in quality, you're gone. I delivered."
Celebrities, film festivals, golfing and other events, and businesses started contracting for Boyles' services through Getty.
Sofia Vergara. Elton John. Roger Daltry. Kevin Costner. Keith Urban. Mark Wahlberg.
Nice O'Neal
"Bill Murray is a lot of fun. Shaquille O'Neal is so nice," Boyles said.
He was contracted to photograph the retired NBA star selling his line of watches on the Home Shopping Network, based in nearby St. Petersburg. O'Neal had promised a buyer that he personally would deliver her watch to her nearby residence."
"We caravanned over to a not-great section of town and she screamed when she opened the door," Boyles said. "She said she wasn't sure he was coming, but had prepared dinner just in case. Those are the kinds of stories I love."
Boyles witnessed a similar story backstage at a Christmas concert tour that involved singer/songwriter Meghan Trainor, star Demi Lovato and a young fan who was partially paralyzed after a drug overdose.
"The girl told Meghan that Demi's music had saved her life," Boyles recalled. "Meghan grabbed Demi and got her to talk to that girl, and I just love her for that reason."
Boyles has shot noted animal expert and zookeeper Jack Hanna so many times they have become friends.
"I didn't ask him about wrestling alligators; I talked to him about what restaurants were in town," Boyles said. "I'll ask them if they fish or whatever. I just don't ask them about what they're famous for."
Landing Travolta
He asked John Travolta how he buys groceries and other necessities since the movie star can land his plane and taxi directly to his house in Ocala, Fla.
"I figured they paid someone to do that, but he said, 'No, we go to Wal-Mart, we go to Target. We just don't go at noon,'" Boyles said.
Boyles also marketed his services directly to celebrities, starting with aerialist and daredevil Nik Wallenda. The photographer captured Wallenda's record-breaking tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon in 2013, as well as in Chicago in 2014.
The Windy City provided the biggest scare for Boyles. He worked from the roof of a 50-story hotel that had no railing.
"I did get tethered as I crawled out of the window and walked on a two-foot-wide plank," he said.
Boyles worked with Wallenda again last month when he photographed the daredevil's wife, Erendira, performing acrobatics while hanging by her teeth from a helicopter flying over Niagara Falls.
"I only work with people that I literally trust with my life," Wallenda said in a prepared statement. "I always know when I work with Tim, I'll get the pictures I need to document my history-making walks. Tim never gives up and neither do I."
Hanna described Boyles as a "friend and an incredible photographer" whose works decorate his offices and home.
Not nice
Not all of Boyles' subjects were pleasant, but he said he doesn't like to dwell on the two or three instances of celebrities being rude, considering he shot hundreds.
He said he owes his success to treating stars "like everyday people and treating everyday people like celebrities." That philosophy served him well in his bread-and-butter business of photographing beach weddings.
Boyles still plans to shoot weddings, but most likely not on a shore. After his father, Marvin, died in 2013, and his 81-year-old mother, Patty, got sick, Boyles decided to return to Altoona to look after her.
"I've had amazing adventures, but nothing is more important than my family," he said, noting that he's already lost one of his two older brothers.
He opened a studio and gallery on 10th Avenue, but it's by appointment only.
"I've never been driven by money," he said. "I've been very lucky to make a living."
And, he never chased stars.
Boyles will speak at SAMA-Altoona during a Lunch a l'Art on July 12. Cost is $15 per person or $14 for SAMA members. For reservations, call the museum at 946-4464).
Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.