Hidden railroad crossing in Nutley.
A Belleville native, who has written extensively about the township, has his photographic work on display as part of a library’s popular art and photography series.
Anthony Buccino is a writer, editor, and photographer who began his photography journey by shooting film for the stories he produced while working for local newspapers.
“Photography challenges me to stop and see the world, and to try to capture what I see so you can see it, too. Sometimes I set out to shoot something specific. Other times I am called to a scene that says, ‘shoot ME!,’” Buccino said. “My journalism background — shooting photos for news stories — continues to influence my view of the world and the world I see through the camera lens.”
Buccino edited business news for 12 years at Dow Jones & Co. and The Wall Street Journal. He worked for several years as an associate editor at TheStreet.com. He has written in online publications about life and growing up in northern New Jersey. For five years he wrote about commuting and transit in metro New York-New Jersey.
Buccino has also written several books including “Greetings from Belleville, New Jersey: Collected Writings’; “Belleville and Nutley in the Civil War: a Brief History”; and “Belleville Sons Honor Roll: Remembering the men who paid for our freedom.”
Buccino, 70, was born and raised in Belleville. He graduated from Belleville High School in 1972 and settled with his wife, Dawn, in Nutley, in 1978. The pair attended Montclair State College (before it was a university) where he majored in English and minored in journalism. Dawn taught middle school English for 38 years.
Currently, his photographic work will be displayed during the whole of March at the West Caldwell Public Library’s popular art and photography series in its Richard R. Cass Art Gallery, 30 Clinton Road, West Caldwell. There are 42 photos in the exhibit.
“I do a lot of walking around Nutley taking pictures,” Buccino said. “It’s very relaxing to me to go out and find something that other people just walk right by.”
He developed a particular interest in local history after he was asked to manage the Nutley Historical Society’s website about 15 years ago.
His research uncovered stories about local people like a soldier who held off an attack during the Korean War so his squad could escape and was never heard from again and a sailor whose ship was sunk but who survived in shark infested waters by covering himself in oil. He knows that 350 men from Nutley and Belleville have died in the service of their country but none during the War of 1812.
“We’ve had suffragettes, people who founded the Red Cross,” Buccino said. “I just think all that stuff is neat.”
While his wife was teaching middle school in Belleville, he was invited to address students who were studying World War II. He talked about local soldiers and sailors and read the names of the streets they had lived on.
“Kids came up afterwards, saying ‘you read my street, do you know what number?’,” Buccino said.
Over the years, his photos have won awards and appeared in both print and online news sources. His work has been included in the NBAS Photography Exhibition at the Alfa Art Gallery, and solo exhibits at the Montclair Public Library and the Nutley Library. Buccino is a member of the Essex Photo Club whose monthly meetings, in Caldwell, explore photography insights and offer competition challenges.
Each of his photographs aims to tell a story, highlighting unique everyday subjects through different points of perspective.
Buccino said there is always something worth photographing.
“Ever hear a person holding a camera say, aw, there’s nothing around here to photograph,” Buccino said. “Balderdash! Where we’re coming from in Essex County in northern New Jersey, there are so many places to shoot within an hour, and many within minutes that we have some difficulty choosing where to point our cameras. The Great Falls of Paterson are only 15 minutes away. You’ve got to see them in ice. Hemlock Falls, just over the mountain.”
Buccino’s exhibit photos have been curated from his published collections of cityscapes such as “New Orleans in Plain View,” “New York City Snapshots,” “Harrison Next,” “Jersey City Snapshots,” and “Nutley Snapshots.”
Other photos capture simple everyday things such as items you might find in the kitchen as well as gas stations and other eclectic shots.
For additional information about Anthony Buccino, visit his website: www.AnthonyBuccino.com
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