To the Admissions Team,

I’ve been asked to supply recommendations as part of my application process into the Photography Graduate Program.

I question myself on what I would say when asking for a recommendation. With 14 years professional experience in Graphic Design and Advertising I ask myself, “Why do I want to spend my sole focus on photography moving forward?” I am after all, more than capable of pursing a Graduate in Advertising if I so desired. And maybe I should consider that as well. I have worked for/with international companies. I’m either the degree or 1 degree away from the most recognizable brands on this planet. Alfred Angelo, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Delta, Disney, Freud Tools, Kroger, Motorola, 7-Eleven and more. In every single one of them, my hand has touched people whether they know it or not. That’s the blue-print of a legacy of the working class. Unsung in accomplishment until written down. I have had my time where I could say that all the Slurpee Flavor Cards were my designs. Even in the background, I was there for the world’s first Energy Drink Slurpee incorporated into that visual history. It’s hard to believe that millions of hands have touched my work on a Coca-Cola product can or packaging. There’s a Ying and a Yang to that list. That can you brought to Six Flags to save $15 dollars…I was a part of that. When a can was customized with your favorite sports team…I was a part of that. Movie-Tie In promotions with Coke…I was there. Your napkin on your delta flight…I got to travel with U when I never could myself. I guess for 8-9 years, I forever got the chance to be a part of the American everyday experience through sharing a Coke with U. Especially around the holidays. We always had that together even if Christmas did always come early. It’s humbling knowing your work has touched millions. I am just one of the hundreds of other artists, manufacturers and laymen(and women) who have an incredible history to your everyday waiting to be discovered. There’s pride there within the things taken for granted. Blink and you miss someone’s life accomplishment.

When I took the position of a life-time at Alfred Angelo, I was afforded the opportunity to transition from my work influencing the everyday to being an influence of one special day of the Bridal world. A challenge and an honor to find the connection between me and U. U are always there and it’s that relationship that I’ve spent 20 years working on since the day I decided to attend The Savannah College of Art and Design for my undergrad. Alfred Angelo gave me the door to Disney. A legacy that I now have that somewhere in the Disney vault is 3 years of heart and soul into Disney Fairy Tale Weddings with artwork by Philip Bonneau. Jointly created, but without a doubt my signature. But not everyone will ever know that. That comes from getting to know one another. I think about those 3 years on the brand and I still am taken aback that a self-taught artist was able to transition from photographing everyday people as heroes to photographing what became licensed representations of the catalog princesses. A reflection to something in a different light. A dare once made of see what I can do with a budget bigger than the $100 dollars per shoot I’d use on my own work. Those Disney images were seen around the world. I find it important that my own works were also seen around the world. Recognized by The Advocate and the LGBTQ+ community and major brands such as AMC Theatres to websites such as Geeksaresexy.com, CBR.com and screencrush.com. Acceptance and validation from all sides of pop-culture life, but none more important than my own community.

It’s also that time at Alfred Angelo that changed me. Perhaps a shift from unspoken employee to #2 creative for an international company. 3 years management experience where you can try to fake-it-until-you-make-it, but faking gets noticed instantly in the corporate world. I never faked it; I just adapted. I was no stranger to 21 hour work days during Disney deadlines because only I could do it. It was hard and it reminded me when I went to undergrad and worked full-time as well. Every minute counted where sometimes I made the choice to sleep in my car instead of going to home to bed because it gave me an extra 45 minutes to sleep when deprived as I was already. Every minute still counts. For 3 years, I gave up my name so that their’s could flourish.

When hundreds of employees were laid off unexpectedly from Alfred Angelo, thousands were affected from that downfall. One name, in an instant, affected so many people’s most important day. It was not unforeseeable that “indentured servitude” falls in vain. In the end I, like everyone else, was left without severance. Ultimately that resulted in me loosing my home when no one after 400 applications would give me the chance of an interview. In part I’m sure because of the name now associated with my resumé. To some they would consider that a check-mate. But there was a silver lining to that time. As every minute counted down, I built a website for myself. Never before have the years of work been collected into one area. I found it was my personal work that came to the forefront in both volume and in execution. I went to Italy with the last dollars to my name to follow the path of Dante to finish a novel that I started writing in 2010. A Divine Comedy that only now has truly came to a conclusion. 9 years later. Say what you want about the length, but it shows dedication to seeing a vision through. Even when the answers do not instantly come to you. Visually I wish to use my masters to execute the illustrations of this series to the best of my abilities.

I came home shortly from there until I was afforded a contract position back in Atlanta and hence forth I went there excited to be back at work, even if it was a position step down. I found comfort that “indentured servitude” was transferred to “strictly no overtime”. It gave me a chance to get back toward my artwork and rebuilding my name in the phoenix city. A conflict of interest occurred though. A conflict between having a name and not having a name. 2 different competing forces in the world I had become. But we persevere nevertheless to overcome daily obstacles. That word pretty much sums up my entire life. An attempt to overcome every hurdle faced since childhood. I see it no different now in my adult life as I further my artistic endeavors back to understanding U and I. I lost another home because of that job. A series of unfortunate misunderstandings and history repeats itself ten fold. But perhaps this time when a name was already lost; it was made to be stolen. I wish to reclaim that.

I’m home again now. Lost so much of who I was that perseverance was all I had left for awhile. Eventually that spread to words. To talking and interacting to affording myself the chance to face my dreams and nightmares. When the only thing left to you is your name, you tend to go back and revisit the things that mean the most to you when you pick yourself back up with the help of others. I find that now removed from environments, it’s my name that I want to take back. It’s my story I want to reclaim. As I’ve gone through this journey there are the things I would never do and the things I’d only imagine doing. Just as in the past there are things only you could imagine I have done to succeed and survive. My passion is in finding that connection between Us. Intimately I find it through a lens where I try to deliver back to you what I see. I’ve been working with a metaphorical Macro lens when there is so much more to be afforded into the picture-scape. Internationally accomplished and I find I want to go back to school not just to be taught the things I don’t know, but with the anticipation that I can continue to teach others what you should and should not do in the real world. Both in a classroom setting and through my continued study of art in any form, with photography being at the forefront of that interest.

I was told by some that if I write a recommendation they would sign it. I think about one person in particular that I would ask for a letter of recommendation from. Sadly, my mentor for 8 years and first employer out of college passed away in 2018. I try to think of what she would say or write and I find it best not to put words when there are none. But I know she would have talked about growth and perseverance. I would write for the VP at another job where they too would write about growth and composure. And then there is my current boss, who happened to be my boss 17 years ago when I went to SCAD for my undergrad. She would mention work ethic and sleeping in cars and paying my way through school once. Something I am no longer afforded thanks to other people’s names. So I find it best that I write my recommendation for me by me. It’s truth. It’s honest and my entire life has been working towards flying. The Graduate program at the Savannah College of Art and Design can help me there. It is my hope that my experience and portfolio is up to standard to carry on the legacy of SCAD through my name.

I humbly submit my own letter of recommendation as no one can be truer to my word than myself.

-Philip Arthur Bonneau