We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tony Peroni. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tony below.

Tony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Recently my friend and I were riding our motorcycles home one night and were involved in an accident. Both bikes were totaled, i had a few broken bones but my friend lost his life. through the grief and struggle i started working on what has become the most meaningful project, diverted from my career as a photographer, i started making music and visuals to honor and respect the life of my friend, but also as therapy.

The song “Gone too Soon” by The name Trajack Night is one of my most poignant works. it deals with the loss of jack and the family and friends he left behind, what was taken from the world, like a stolen future. Easily one of the most passionate things I’ve produced to date.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Primarily a Photographer for 10+ years I actually started by playing around in photoshop. I used it to express myself creatively but since i always had access to cameras in my youth, i had a plethora of images to work with. My grandfather and Uncle were hobby photographers and always stayed up to date on technology. My Grandfather digitized endless hours of footage and thousands of images in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Once i had a handle on photoshop i got into stock photography, I started taking photos of everything. As i progressed i started directing my work into things that i was more passionate about and could be creative with, sunsets, landscapes, editorial street photos. Finally moving into portraits and fashion photography.

My best trait is my ability to make a shoot fun, to make the clients feel comfortable and happy, to produce good images that don’t feel like work, I’m always trying to sneak a candid editorial in my shoots.

With the rise of AI, I’m of the opinion we have to move with the times so i do utilize AI and have a few tools on hand to enhance my post production. I still favor realism and maintain an accurate true to life portrait with my clients. That’s the only way i can be truly proud of my works.

As far as music i used to make beats and loops on Garageband years ago, but again with the help of AI, i can express my thoughts through my words and share it with the world in a format I otherwise wouldn’t be able. For me its about the intent behind the music more than the creation.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think Art and creativity is manifested through struggle and determination. its a way of connecting universally with people mostly without using language. real art transcends the spoken word. Life is a balance between a complex series of emotions and art is a way to illustrate and connect with the people feeling the same way at that moment.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Connection. Being able to have a vision, have an emotion, and create it from almost nothing, manifest it into existence and have people from all over, from all different backgrounds just understand and relate. i think all forms of art are a way of inducing immortality, in a sense. When you capture a photo in a moment in time, the grass, the buildings, the people, the clothing, all won’t likely be there in the same sequence after only a few years. that moment is a point in time that can live on through art. Music is similar, the transcendent nature of music is both timeless and period specific. but music is ever changing, and mostly reflective of the time it was made.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @totony_photo
• Facebook: Tony Peoni
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7561m2EFgV5RIf6nnhfW1Q
• Other: Trajack Night on Spotify and other streaming platforms

Image Credits

Courtney A.
Jack R.
Veronica Lavery
Ms Zilla
Natalie C.
Michelle D.