Interview with Ed Bonja Elvis Presley's photographer 1970-1975
Source: www.elvis.com.au
May 2, 2020
A young Ed Bonja found himself in a room face-to-face with the King of Rock. They spoke about football and life and of course, Elvis left a lasting impression on this young man who went on to become his tour manager and photographer between 1970 and 1977.
It was a moment, that to this day, Mr Bonja, will never forget.
'I'm still coming to the realisation, even now, how incredible that was', Mr Bonja said.
'Being around him was something I can't even express, it was constant excitement, he had a charisma about him like no one else I ever met, you can feel him walking into the room, it hits you right in between the eyes, he was a just an amazing person',
Mr Bonja's uncle, Tom Diskin, was friends with Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker.
The connection meant Mr Bonja was given a job working as a secretary for Presley in 1964 during the shooting of the movie, Girl Happy.
'A few weeks after the movie finished, Elvis came by one night to the Colonel's apartment and we spoke for about 20 minutes', Mr Bonja said.
'He was so gracious, we were talking about football, he said 'you look like you play football', he told me about his team and how they were going to play Ricky Nelsons team next Saturday in a park and that I should go down'.
Elvis Presley | Photo by Ed Bonja | Elvis' official photographer / tour manager 1970-1977.
When Elvis and the Colonel made the decision to start doing live concert tours again in 1970, Colonel asked Mr Bonja, his brother and cousin to help out anyway they could.
During this time he captured some of the most historical images of Elvis which form part of an exhibition at Sydney Univeristy.
'It was real easy to photograph him because he was so good looking, so emotive, he had such strong expressions when he sang, he was so easy to photograph because he was just so darn good-looking',
Mr Bonja clocked off the Elvis Show in May of 1977 after being physically and mentally drained.
'I could see it in him (Elvis) as well, as everyone else could and when I heard the news (of his death) I was home in LA', Mr Bonja said.
'I don't think there will ever be another person like Elvis, ever, in my lifetime or anybody elses' lifetime and he's going to live on forever', Mr Bonja said.
Unfortunately Mr Bonja won't make it to the exhibition but said he will be there in spirit.
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