Denis Belliveau

Denis Belliveau is an American photographer, author and explorer notable for retracing Marco Polo's route from Europe to Asia and back, a feat which culminated in the publication of the documentary and book titled In the Footsteps of Marco Polo;[2] the documentary has been used by Belliveau to create a unique interdisciplinary educational curriculum that he presents at schools and libraries across the United States and internationally.[4] As a "technical scuba diver with over 600 dives on the Mesoamerican Reef," Belliveau's photography was instrumental in establishing the definitive map for the coral reef of the Mexican island of Cozumel.[1] Belliveau also participated in an historic archaeological dig in southwest France, unearthing a centuries-old Christian monastery, located at the current site of Abbatiale Saint-Maixent de Saint-Maixent-l'École.[5][6] In addition, Belliveau's photography and writing have been highlighted in numerous periodicals, magazines and books, including The New York Times, Petersen's Photographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and BBC’s Planet Earth.[7][8][9]

Denis Belliveau
Born
Whitestone, Queens, New York[1]
Alma materSchool of Visual Arts[2]
OccupationPhotographer, author, educator, explorer
AwardsFlag Expedition for The Explorers Club,
National Emmy Nomination for In the Footsteps of Marco Polo,
Kodak’s Gallery Award[3]

Early life

Denis Belliveau was born in Whitestone, Queens;[10] as a Roman Catholic Christian, he was "inspired to follow his passion for art and travel by his uncle, Father Paul Belliveau, a Maryknoll missionary",[11] who was stationed in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.[12][13] He studied at the High School of Art and Design as well as the School of Visual Arts, both of which are in Manhattan, New York.[1][2] At the School of Visual Arts, Denis Belliveau "earned an Associates Degree in painting, sculpture and fine arts."[10] In 1987, Belliveau joined his parents' photography studio that specialized in weddings and during the off-season, he would travel; it was during this time that he joined professional photography organizations, including Kodak.[14]

Career

After Denis Belliveau left the wedding photography studio in 1991, he became captivated by the idea of "following Marco Polo’s route from Venice to China and back."[14] As such, Denis Belliveau and a friend named Francis O'Donnell, who met on an archaeological dig in Saint-Maixent-l'École, southwest France,[5] and hailed from the same academic institution, decided to trace Marco Polo's journey as recorded in Polo's Book of the Marvels of the World.[15] Denis Belliveau, along with his companion, was the first individual "to visit and document every region Marco Polo claimed to have traveled using only" land and sea methods of transportation.[16][17] Belliveau's story and photography on this mission was compiled into a News and Documentary Emmy nominated film, as well as a book by the same name (published by Rowman & Littlefield), titled In the Footsteps of Marco Polo; it "has been used as the basis for a unique curriculum" throughout schools in the United States and around the world.[4][18] The same academic press has used Denis Belliveau's images in other books, such as Digging Through The Bible by Richard A. Freund.[19]

Denis Belliveau was "the Director of Photography and Senior Cameraman for the national public television series Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy", which was acquired by Disney in 2010.[3][20] He received Eastman Kodak's highest honor, its Gallery Award, for an image of a Quechua boy captured in Peru.[8] In total, Denis Belliveau's career has taken him to over sixty countries in the world.[21][22]

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References
  1. Taylor, Lisa (14 October 2014). "Bringing Marco Polo to Life - A Unique Educational Curriculum". Reuters. Retrieved 2 February 2015. A technical scuba diver with over 600 dives on the Mesoamerican Reef, his underwater photography helped create the definitive map for the island of Cozumel, Mexico.
  2. Kilgannon, Corey (19 January 2009). "Touring the World in Marco Polo's Steps". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2015. And this is how their conversation goes, as if scripted lines in a veteran comedic duo. It is a charm that helped them get through 22 countries during a two-year trek in the mid-1990s, as they retraced the silk road voyage that Marco Polo made 700 years ago. In 1993, Mr. Belliveau and Mr. O’Donnell, two guys from Queens and classmates at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, sat on a bench in the Metropolitan Museum of Art gazing at a huge painting of the Buddha. They had been discussing the possibility of plotting a trip retracing the fabled trek without any real plans nor the assistance of an airplane. And on that day, with the Buddha as their witness, they shook hands and vowed to go for it. Mr. Belliveau would take the photographs, and Mr. O’Donnell would videotape a journey thousands of miles long. A decade and thousands of incredulous barroom and coffeehouse conversations later, they have officially documented the trip with “In the Footsteps of Marco Polo,” a film being shown on public television stations nationwide (and on the Web). There is also a book by the same name, featuring stunning photographs and hilarious anecdotes from the journey.
  3. "Biography of Denis Belliveau". American Public Television. 2008. Denis is the Director of Photography and Senior Cameraman for the national public television series Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  4. Young, Christal (15 September 2014). "A history classroom in the real world". Fox News. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015. They survived a deadly firefight in Afghanistan, crossed the desert in a camel caravan, and mingled with native Mongolians and tattooed tribes in India. Part travelogue, part history trek, the trip inspired the book and movie "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo." The 90-minute PBS documentary was nominated for an Emmy and has been used as the basis for a unique curriculum. Since the film's first airing, Belliveau has been invited into hundreds of schools across the country to share his adventures first hand. He now presents a mix of assemblies, classroom visits and explorer in residence programs built around his extraordinary two-year adventure.
  5. Africano, Lillian (February 1999). Eight War Zones, 20 Visas, 17 Countries, and 33,000 Miles: Two Friends Retrace Marco Polo's Treacherous Route. Biography Magazine. p. 81. The two met as volunteers on a summer archaeological dig initiated by their history professor at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts, where they were both students. The mission: unearth a centuries-old monastery in southwest France.
  6. "Notre-Dame-de-Grâce exceptionnellement ouverte" (in French). La Nouvelle République Deux-Sèvres. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Parmi tout ce qui est ici, nous avons les restes des trois églises, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, l'église du couvent des Capucins et l'église Saint-Saturnin. » Non loin d'un sarcophage, la statue d'un évêque trouvé par l'américain Gary Hess en 1987 lors des fouilles au pied de l'abbatiale avec ses vêtements d'époque a été expliqué par Hélène Polet.
  7. Francis O'Donnell, Denis Belliveau (January 2002). "Marco Polo's Guide to Afghanistan". Smithsonian. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  8. Taylor, Lisa (14 October 2014). "Bringing Marco Polo to Life - A Unique Educational Curriculum". Reuters. Retrieved 2 February 2015. A photographer, author and explorer whose travels have taken him to 80 countries his work has been widely published in Photographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and BBC’s Planet Earth. He is the recipient of numerous professional photographers awards including Eastman Kodak’s highest honor, The Gallery Award.
  9. Paul Benson (1 April 1996). "Photographing the trail of Marco Polo. (The Silk Road)". Petersen's Photographic. HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  10. "Biography of Denis Belliveau". American Public Television. 2008. Born in 1964 in Whitestone, Queens, Denis attended the New York City High School of Art & Design. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York where he earned an Associates Degree in painting, sculpture and fine arts. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  11. Taylor, Lisa (14 October 2014). "Bringing Marco Polo to Life - A Unique Educational Curriculum". Reuters. Retrieved 2 February 2015. Denis was born in NYC and attended The High School of Art and Design and the School of Visual Arts. Raised Catholic, he was inspired to follow his passion for art and travel by his uncle, Father Paul Belliveau, a Maryknoll missionary.
  12. Droll, Larry J. (October 2000). "Diocese of San Pedro Sula, Honduras" (PDF). The West Texas Angelus. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Take for example Sacred Heart Parish, entrusted to the Maryknoll Fathers. Two priests, Bob Coyue and Paul Belliveau, serve the main church, which functions more or less like a parish in the United States, with programs and regular activities.
  13. Virgintino, Mike (16 October 2010). "The Wonder of It All Photography Exhibit at Maryknoll". Local Westchester NY. Retrieved 4 February 2015. The Wonder of It All is a new exhibit of approximately 70 photographs taken by Father Paul Belliveau that showcase the beauty of northern Westchester County. The photographs were taken on the grounds of the Maryknoll Society in Ossining. Father Belliveau was ordained in the Maryknoll Society during 1969 and he worked for 32 years in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and on the border in Ciudad Juarez.
  14. "Biography of Denis Belliveau". American Public Television. 2008. In 1987, when his father became ill, Denis joined his parent’s wedding photography studio and became an accomplished portraitist. In the wedding “off-season,” Denis would travel. It was during this time he started joining various professional photography organizations, including Kodak, which would later award him the prestigious Gallery Award and helped sponsor the Marco Polo trip by providing film. In 1991, Denis decided to leave the family business and was packing for a trip to Nepal when Francis suggested following Marco Polo’s route from Venice to China and back. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  15. "Marco Polo - An Epic Journey". Pointe-à-Callière Museum. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2015. In the early 1990s, Denis Belliveau and Francis O’Donnell, two long-time friends from Queens, New York, decided to follow Marco Polo’s path with the explorer’s travelogue as their only guide. They made the long journey on foot, on horseback, and by sea.
  16. "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo". In Focus. 14 (11): 6. November 2008. Equal parts travelogue, adventure story, history trek and buddy movie, the program chronicles the highs and lows of their quest to be the first to visit and document every region Marco Polo claimed to have traveled using only the same transportation available to their hero.
  17. "Vassar College Bookstore Author Series presents lecture by Emmy nominated filmmaker Denis Belliveau". Vassar College. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2015. Smithsonian Magazine noted that "Denis Belliveau and fellow explorer Francis O’Donnell followed Marco Polo’s route through Afghanistan and 20 other countries, traveling 33,000 miles over two years, in jeeps, trains and rickshaws; on horse and camel. They are certainly the first to retrace Polo’s steps entirely by land and sea, all this without resorting to helicopters or airplanes.” Belliveau's PBS documentary, "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo," was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2009 in the category of Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. The film and accompanying book documented Belliveau and his co-explorer Francis O’Donnell journey as they retraced Marco Polo’s entire land-and-sea route from Venice to China and back.
  18. Man, John (10 December 2014). "Five Reasons Why Marco Polo Remains Fascinating". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 January 2015. Adventure, accuracy, personality, significance: these are the prime qualities of Marco’s story, which is why he deserves his fame, why I wrote about him, why Denis Belliveau and Francis O’Donnell trailed him (“In the Footsteps of Marco Polo,” Rowman and Littlefield) and why Netflix backed John Fusco’s 10-part drama that airs Dec. 12.
  19. Freund, Richard A. (2009). Digging Through the Bible: Modern Archaeology and the Ancient Bible. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 384. ISBN 9780742546455. Cover image: Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by Denis Belliveau
  20. "Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy". Justia Trademarks. 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Current Trademark Owners - Party Name: Disney Online
  21. "About the Explorers - Denis Belliveau". WLIW. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Denis’ photographic career has taken him to over 60 countries where he has amassed a wealth of mesmerizing images. His work has been published in numerous magazines, periodicals and books, including “Photographic Magazine,” “Smithsonian Magazine” and most recently the BBC documentary series “Planet Earth” which aired on the Discovery Channel. He is the receiver of the Gallery Award, Eastman Kodak’s highest honor for a professional photographer.
  22. "Gallery Archives". Frontier. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Denis' photographic career has taken him to over 60 countries where he has amassed a wealth of mesmerizing images. His work has been published in numerous magazines, periodicals and books, including Photographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and most recently the B.B.C. documentary series "Planet Earth" which aired on the Discovery Channel. He is the receiver of the Gallery Award, Eastman Kodak's highest honor for a professional photographer.
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