Bio
BIO:
I grew up in a bar outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was owned by my father and a friend of his. In the beginning my mother worked there as a bouncer. On weekends I’d be in early with my younger brother and sister - twins born on Valentine’s Day - helping clean up from the night before. We’d sweep and mop and clean up whatever funk was around, all the while searching the beer-soaked sticky tile floors for nasty quarters we could use to play video games.
Through my teenage years I added dishwasher, host and busboy to my list of titles, which I’m sure also included “pain in the ass” if you asked some of the bartenders there.
It was sold when I was 18 and it became a parking lot for a chain grocery store - a sad end to a glorious dive bar.
The bar hangs out in my memory as being a place where life was lived with intensity. There was craziness, excitement and chaotic fun, and there was theft, exhaustion and frustration. There was also community and appreciation and love and I had a chance to see it all up close.
It’s been a long time since the bar has existed, but as I continue to learn more about it the context of my memories change and I find myself still gaining knowledge from that place years later. Likewise, my photography has changed over time, but my approach to it is very much informed by my experience there as a young person. Work hard. Have fun. Learn what's up. Be real.
Thanks for looking,
Alex
DETAILS:
I am a portrait and documentary photographer in Durham, North Carolina.
I graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN with a B.A. Entrepreneurship. After college I worked as an assistant for commercial photographers in Minneapolis.
My time in Minneapolis was followed by a career in photojournalism. I attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2001 and worked as a staff photographer for news organizations in Iowa (N'West Iowa REVIEW), Florida (Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers) and North Carolina (INDY Week).
In my down time I like Minnesota Twins Baseball, gin, road trips to Richmond, VA and hanging out with my wife Kallyn and our two potcake pups.
alex@alexboerner.com
772.233.5639
I'm about 20 minutes from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) and am happy to travel anywhere.
Drive time from Durham:
Raleigh, NC - 30 minutes
Charlotte, NC - 3 hours
Richmond, VA - 3 hours
Asheville, NC - 4 hours
Washington, DC - 4 hours
Greenville, SC - 4 hours
Charleston, SC - 6 hours
Knoxville, TN - 6 hours
Atlanta, GA - 7 hours
CLIENTS INCLUDE:
The Associated Press
Boston University
Chipotle
Christianity Today
Chronicle of Higher Education
Day One Agency
Duke Magazine
Duke Performances
Duke University
INDY Week
The FADER
Five Line Creative
Furman University
The Guardian
The Hill Center
The Local Palate
Merge Records
The University of Michigan
The National (Amtrak)
National Heritage Academies
Nine One Nine Marketing
The New York Times
The New York Post
Our State Magazine
Pacific Standard Magazine
Private Clubs Magazine
Smithsonian Magazine
Tufts University
U.S. News & World Report
VICE
Wall Street Journal