Living as a nomadic photojournalist, David Allio has traveled the world visually documenting the magnificent and mundane. He has manually processed nearly 300,000 frames of silver-based film and printed thousands of enlargements for publication. His traditional foundation of documentary photography continues through digital imaging. His extensive portfolio of published images includes music and motion picture entertainers, professionals in all major sports, two Presidents of the United States, and many forms of Americana.
Currently, David is Artist-in-Residence at Thomas University. He is also the chief track photographer and major event visual media manager at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In 2017, twelve of his images were enshrined into the NFL permanent archives of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was confirmed as a Copepodologist for his electron microscopic two-, three-, and four-dimensional artworks of organisms from the Gulf of Mexico. His active Fine Art practice includes exhibitions on four continents. In 2001, David and his photography were the exclusive subject of a 30-minute feature broadcast on PBS. The program entitled Impressions was produced by South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV).
Outside the collegiate classroom, the professional work environment for this veteran photojournalist and visual artist often includes the authentic experience of exploding nitro methane (CH3NO2) in 7000-horsepower top fuel dragsters within fifteen feet of his camera position. Even veteran CNN war zone correspondent Anderson Cooper has asked, “How do you ever get used to that?”
A multiple winner of American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) awards for motorsports photography, David is a former official NASCAR photographer. He worked for seventeen years as a contract corporate sports marketing photographer for the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company at various AMA, IHRA, IMSA, NASCAR, NHRA, and USHRA series racing events. Since the mid-1970s, he has served as the chief track photographer at eleven different racetracks. David is also a contract photojournalist with the New York Times, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Stephens Media, The Associated Press, Getty Images, United Press International/UPI Photo, McClatchy, Gannett, and Reuters.
David holds an FCC license as an Engineer with Broadcast endorsement and an FAA Class 107 Remote Pilot license. He is bi-lingual in Mac and Windows platforms. He is an accredited media member of both Canon Professional services and Nikon Professional Services. Additionally, he is the lead instructor for Experience Photography workshops.
David Allio attended the University of Virginia, Clinch Valley College where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in English Communication and Visual Art with an emphasis in History, August 1989. His Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art with an emphasis in Hybridity was conferred in January 2015 at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
