Celso Bayo Onofre is a film and digital photographer who has traveled and worked internationally and domestically. His photo projects have taken him to many countries as diverse as Cambodia, Indonesia, Turkey, Ethiopia, Norway, Peru and Brazil.
Celso has extended studies in digital and film Photography at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, and at Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. He is also a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. More recently Celso Bayo has been working as a freelance photojournalist photographer for publications in United States and Brazil. Born and raised in Brazil, Bayo currently lives in Northern California.
Bayo’s photo project, Mulheres Africanas (African Women), will be in exhibition in Ribeirão Preto, Cultural Capital of Brazil 2010, from November 20th 2010 to January 15th 2011, at the Museu da Imagem e do Som.
This project was chosen in February of 2007, to be shown at the prestigious Espaço Cultural Banco Central in São Paulo, Brazil. Since then, the photos from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, has been in exhibition in many other different cities in Brazil, such as São João del Rei (Cultural Capital of Brazil 2007), and Caxias do Sul (Cultural Capital of Brazil 2008), among others.
Celso Bayo was presented with the 2nd (2008) and 3rd (2009) Annual Photography Masters Cup Nominee Award in the category of People at a prestigious live online Winners and Nomination Ceremony presented by International Color Awards to recognize excellence in color photography.
Thousands of images were received from ninety-two countries. The nominated photographers were selected by a who’s who Judging Panel from the international photography community, including Christie’s (New York), National Geographic (Washington) and Fox Broadcasting Company (Los Angeles).
The Panel reviewed the images online over an eight week period and Celso Bayo’s “Maria Bonita” (2007) and "Faces&Shadows" (2008), entered in the People category, received a high percentage of votes overall.
His photo “Hanging loose in Jeri” won a prestigious second place in a Canon/Forum’s Magazine, Best annual 2000 Black and White Photography. One of his photos of Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, “Elvis at the Balcony”, was chosen in 2004 for a pioneer digital project called Project America 24/7.