Born in Bath Beach Brooklyn where I still reside to this day across the street from my childhood home where my parents still live. I now have a family of my own including my wife Antoinette, son William, and daughter Andréa.
1977-1978
Started obsessively drawing characters from “Saturday Night Fever”, “Grease”, and “Star Wars”.
1981
Used 8mm camera to make multiple horror films with my friends usually I was the killer à la “Jason” or “Michael Myers” murdering my friends. Someone had to do it.
1983
I graduated elementary school from St. Finbar’s in Brooklyn, then started Xavier High School in Manhattan.
1984
Really got into Heavy Metal (I regularly saw shows at hard rock club L’amours in Brooklyn) and Disco (at the time Clubs and Bars allowed underage kids with no problem) and drawing my favorite musicians Rob Halford, Madonna, and Ozzy.
1987
Graduated Xavier, Started Villanova University in Pennsylvania (Pretty campus but not a good fit for me).
1988
Transferred to Stony Brook University in Long Island (Better fit but still not for me).
1989
During summers and winter breaks was hired as a “set mover” for family friend Paul Cohen who owned and operated SilvaCone studios in NYC. (It was pure charity since I knew nothing other than how to lift heavy objects when I started but I became friends with the photographers and eventually learned to assist and shoot for them).
1990
Transferred to School of Visual Arts in Manhattan (Photography major, I finally found my place in the world).
1990
Took the first Photoshop class ever offered in any college in the country and it only had six students in the class. No one knew anything about it but I was instantly amazed and hooked, especially when I saw that I could draw on a picture in a computer with the ability to undo a mistake.
1993
Airbrushed a mural on “Lundy’ Brothers Restaurant” in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn. (A lot of the elements of the film “Grease” were worked into it).
1994
Graduated School of Visual Arts (So I went to college for 7 years which means I should be a Physician or something that justifies that much time, but I only have a BA and my dad who was paying wanted to kill me but it actually all worked out in the end).
1994-1995
Was a PA at R/Greenberg associates (Great place, I made a lot of contacts there, still friends with some).
1995-1997
Started a photo retouching / restoration business in my parents’ basement. I learned a lot and worked like a dog but at the end of the day I needed to make more money than neighborhood people were willing to pay to fix up damaged photos of family members who had recently died.
1997-1999
Worked at Shoot Digital for professional photographers and Advertising agencies, (I learned a ton about high end boutique retouching, started doing a lot of Mark Seliger resale retouching work).
1999
Founded Vis Vitae Studios with my business partner Marc Cohen (son of Paul Cohen mentioned above) specializing in boutique retouching (Our Dads’ were in the army together in the 1960’s, our families stayed close through the years and he had experience working for his dad then later himself so it was a good match).
1999
Opened doors and officially started doing business on Oct 1, 1999 (This is exactly one week before my 30th Birthday on Oct 8th).
2000
In August 2000 named as one of nine “Top creative pros” on the cover of “MacAddict Magazine” alongside Moby, Michael Kamen and other artists who used Macs in their creation process. I was also interviewed for the issue where I discussed a number of topics dealing with the latest software, technology, industry trends as well as retouching lessons and tips.
2000
We bought a new Leaf Cantare digital camera. (It really wasn’t great quality yet but we knew it would get better soon and it was instant gratification, unlike drum scanning chromes on our Tango after waiting to get film back from a lab which you hope hadn’t developed it improperly).
2001
Started getting involved with Healthcare Advertising agencies for Retouching, as well as Photo and Video shoots as a Photographer and Director.
2001
One of the co-founders and co-funders of “Perception” a NYC based design studio for TV and Film with some former PA’s from R/Greenberg associates (see 1994 notes above).
2002
Start shooting Celebrities, Reality TV stars, and musicians for cover shoots and inside spreads for “In Touch Magazine”, “Star”, “OK” and “Life and Style”.
2003
Got into CGI and started directing projects that are 3D with heavy use of Maya and incorporating into Video and still projects.
2003
My son William is born.
2003
Leaf 22 camera back comes out which is a massive improvement. I start shooting, combining images, retouching and color correcting low res in real time during shoots so clients can see how a shoot was coming together and the directions in which I can push it. The impact this leap in technology had was as vast as comparing a rotary phone to an iphone.
2004
Befriended “Apprentice” star Omarosa. Shot her dozens of times through the years as well as made a short film starring her “Soul Sistahs”. I can be seen briefly on two episodes of “The Apprentice” in 2008 and in 2013 Shooting and retouching her and her team during competition.
2008
Co-Founded and co-funded White Honey with business partners Heather Miele and Marc Cohen. White Honey specializes in Photography, Video, Retouching and 3D for the beauty and cosmetics industries.
2009
My daughter Andréa is born.
2010
Shot models for stills and video for new Stuart Weitzman e-commerce sight launch.
2010
Was seen on “Good Morning America” segment shooting Mackenzie Philips.
2010
Was on “The Real Housewives of New York” TV episode seen shooting Ramona Singer (Go to “Behind the Scenes” on my site to view).
2011
Shot Dyrenium drug campaign which was a MedAdNews finalist for “Best Professional Campaign”.
2011
Started sculpting (First live nudes with clay and classic techniques then digital with modern techniques go under “Fun” on my site to view).
2012
Shot “Combivent” drug campaign which won multiple “Trailblazer Awards”.
2013
Started shooting Video in 4K with Black Magic Camera.
2017
I had a solo Sculpture Show at SVA Gramercy Gallery on 23rd st. NYC
2019
Moved to 236 West 30th street and opened Andrew Coppa Studios after leaving my 22nd street studio (Vis Vitae) after residing there for exactly 20 years and 1 month.
2020
Suffered through horrible covid where all shooting came to a dramatic halt. The bright spot was it gave me the time to play with Modo 3d program. Go to “Fun” then “My Sculpture Odyssey ” on site to view.
2020
Started shooting Video in 12K with Black Magic Camera.
2021
Shot a few large HIV campaigns for Area 23
2022
Shot a new project of intimate portraits showcasing the LGBTQIA+ community which you can see under “Portrait” section of site.
