”I Shot Elvis" exhibition now on display in Kotka

Photographs on show for the first time in Europe

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A collection of some 80 Elvis Presley photographs taken by American Ed Bonja will be on display at the Kotka Photography Centre from next Saturday until mid-September. The City of Kotka is located on the southeastern coast of Finland.
     
Now resident in Los Angeles, Ed Bonja was Elvis Presley’s official tour photographer from 1970 to 1977. In the course of six years he took about 10,000 pictures of "The King".
      "Elvis made it easy. He loved posing almost as much as he loved performing", notes Bonja.
      This is the first time that Bonja’s pictures are displayed outside the United States. From Kotka the exhibition will move to Germany, and from there to Ireland.
     
A number of more or less true stories of Elvis's character and his habits are circulating worldwide, and in some of them "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" does not necessarily leave a favourable impression.
      However, Bonja does not speak ill of Elvis. On the contrary, he remembers him as a humble, down-to-earth, and even religious man.
      Originally Bonja acted as Elvis’s tour manager, a job he was recruited to by the star's personal manager, Colonel Tom Parker. At that point Bonja had just started his photography studies, which he never completed.
      Apart from his regular tasks as the tour manager, Bonja was allowed to take pictures at concerts. This was how he started his career as a photographer, even though his formal studies had not been accomplished.
     
The talent of the young photographer was soon acknowledged by the background organisation of Elvis, too. Eventually Bonja’s pictures started to appear on album covers, posters, tour programmes, and advertising material.
      A book by Bonja entitled Viva Elvis will be published in September. In addition to pictures, the book consists of stories of Elvis’s concert tours.
      Bonja worked as Elvis Presley's tour manager until 1977, but his last photograph of Elvis he took in June of 1975. After that he has never held a camera in his hands.
      "I did not want to photograph a fat Elvis, and my purpose was to wait until he lost some weight. It never happened."
     
     
The exhibition "I Shot Elvis" will be on display at the Kotka Photography Centre from August 4th to September 16th. The address is Vuorelankulma 2, and the opening hours are: Tuesday to Friday 11.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. Saturday to Sunday 12.00 to 4.00 p.m.


Links:
  Elvis Presley (Wikipedia)
  "I Shot Elvis"

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