Al Bello grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He attended South Shore High School in Canarsie in 1985. He went on to attend The University of New York at Stony Brook. He was a linebacker on his HS and College football team and towards the end of college he took a photo class. He started taking pictures of his friends that played on his team and other sports at Stony Brook. When he made prints of his friends playing sports, he noticed the look in their eyes of seeing themselves in action. It was a look of joy and with that connection, he knew what he wanted to do with his life. He went to work at the school newspaper as a writer and photographer. In 1989 Al graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts from Stony Brook. In 1990 Al worked as Darkroom Manager for The Ring boxing magazine. Al soon found his way by photographing boxing on a weekend basis while processing, and printing film during the week. In 1993 Al landed a position as a Junior photographer at Allsport Photo Agency which became part of Getty images in 1998. He never looked back.
Since Joining Getty in 1993, Al was the Chief Sports Photographer in North America from 2004-2019 working with a very talented staff. In 2020 he has changed roles at Getty and is now a Special Sport Correspondent hoping to expand his horizons doing more sport photo/video projects and working to help develop up and coming sports photographers. Al will be in Paris this summer covering his 15th Olympic games. Since the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected the World as we know it, Al has pivoted and covered news and features involving the Coronavirus and Black Lives Matter protests. He has enjoyed shooting portraits of athletes from Olympic Champion Michael Phelps to Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson.
Some of Al’s recent Video Projects include "Blind Paralympic Swimming Gold Medalist Anastasia Pagonis" , "The Savannah Bananas Baseball Team", “Jockey School in Puerto Rico”, “The Urban Arm-Wrestling League” “The Strength Factory” and “Female Pro Baseball Player Kelsie Whitmore succeeding in an all-Male League”.
He also enjoys shooting picture stories involving sport. Some of Al’s favorite stories include “Cockfighting in Puerto Rico” “The Recovery of Sport One Year after Hurricane Maria” “Virtual Gym Training during COVID Pandemic”, a Portrait series in 4x5 format on “The Faces of Boxing”
Al was most recently named as a Pulitzer Prize finalist with Getty Images for their team coverage of the COVID -19 Pandemic in 2020-2021. Al has won various individual awards from World Press Photo, The Lucie Foundation, National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year International, AIPS Press awards, The Siena Awards, The Sony World Sports Awards, China International Press Photographers Association, The New York Press Photographers Association, The Boxing Writers Association, The Football Hall of Fame, The Baseball Hall of Fame, FINA, The World Sports Awards, and The International Olympic Committee He was named Sport Photographer of the year by POYI, NPPA, and NYPPA. His Video project awards have earned recognition with the Sienna Sports Awards and AIPS Awards.
Al is also an adjunct Professor teaching Photojournalism at Hofstra University in Long Island, NY. He has also taught and lectured at The Eddie Adams Workshop, The Creative Live Workshop, The National Press Photographers Association Short Course, Photofusion Workshop, The Richard Clarkson Workshop, The World Press Photo Foundation, The Rochester Institute of Technology, The Poynter Institute, The Wisconsin News Photographers Association, Sacred Heart University, and several functions for Getty Images.
On a personal note, Al now lives in Merrick, New York. He enjoys spending every second of his off time with his wonderful wife Debbie of 30 years, his two kids Nicole, and Daniel. He enjoys exercising, Scuba Diving, Paddle boarding, Skiing, Video Games, and watching as much TV and Movies as possible!!
Phone - 1-347-386-6672
Email - albello55@yahoo.com
Website – www.albello.com
Twitter - @albello55
Instagram - @albello55