Arnold Stanley Del Carlo

Arnold Stanley Del Carlo, known to many as ‘Del’, peacefully passed away on January 14, 2023 at the grand age of 101 1/2 in his Saratoga home surrounded by family. Del was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 3, 1921 to Natale and Adele Del Carlo, who nicknamed him “Boss” as a child. Del was a talented and avid photographer in his teen years. He captured on film all events and gatherings put on by his neighborhood group of friends, then printed the photographs in his darkroom within his parents’ basement. He graduated from Harding High School in St. Paul before being enlisted in the US Army to serve in WWII during the years of 1942-1945. He was part of the 171st Combat Engineer Battalion where he was assigned to head-quarters company as a draftsman, photographer and jeep driver. While he dutifully chronicled their efforts with his Army issued Speed Graphic Camera, he also took remarkable photos of the destruction and devastation of the war for his own documentation. Years later, he and his wife Joyce traveled back to locate many buildings and landmarks he had photographed during the war, capturing a “then and now” comparison. His collection has since been shared with many through slideshows and a personal book. Following the War, he returned to St. Paul and attended Macalester College to study engineering. In 1947, he moved with his parents to San Jose, California where he enrolled at San Jose State College pursuing a degree in architecture. For extra money, he took pictures for the college’s athletic department, then eventually for Hale’s Department Store shooting merchandise for artists to draw for newspaper advertisements. His work came to the attention of Angelo Butera, then a San Jose studio photographer who specialized in portraits. Del was hired to help in Butera’s San Fernando Street studio, learning to do retouching and the other aspects of portrait work. Together they worked for 12 years shooting fashion shows and studio portraits. This led him to meet his wife, Joyce Skillrud, then a model for fashion shows at Hart's Department Store of San Jose. They married in 1951 and moved into a house in San Jose that Del designed, where he used his garage as a studio and spare bedroom as a darkroom. In 1956, Del and his partner Butera moved their studio to The Alameda. By 1960, Del separated from Butera to further pursue his specialization in commercial photography. In 1963, Del designed and built his own studio in Santa Clara on Brokaw Road. He soon became a prominently known professional photographer in the Santa Clara Valley for commercial, portrait, wedding and aerial photography for which he used his own Cessna plane that was conveniently located at the nearby San Jose Airport. While living in San Jose, he and his wife had three children, Stanley, Jeanne, and Renee. In 1964, they moved to their current home in Saratoga and had two more children, Cherie and Joy. His profession was his passion, bringing him admiration and acknowledgement by the Professional Photographers of America, Inc., awarding him Master of Photography in 1974. His extensive collection of work captured an important era, the gradual transformation from the rural Valley of Heart's Delight to the urban Silicon Valley, much of which has been archived by the Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, established at San Jose State University. While retiring from his photography business in 1990, the digital age was just beginning and Del took great pleasure in adapting to the new technology, printing his own digital pictures at home. As a Rotarian, Del’s photos of the Annual Rotary Art Show’s Artist of the Year graced the group’s publicity posters. His draftsmanship and artistry extended to drawing the plans for his Saratoga home, two homes in San Jose, and his studio building in Santa Clara. To Del, a “do-it-yourself” approach was his guide, playful humor was his style, and having been a pilot of a Cessna 170, adventure was his ticket. It could be said of Del that a man with a passion for his profession is wealthy beyond measure. Thank you for taking countless photos illustrating the story of your incredible life. You will be missed forever, Del, ‘Boss’, Dad. Del is survived by his wife Joyce, his five aforementioned children, and three grandchildren: Alicia, Eric, and Demi. Services for Del are scheduled for Tuesday, February 7th at 12:00 p.m. with visitation starting at 11:00 a.m. in the Chapel of the Roses located at Oak Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park, 300 Curtner Ave, San Jose, CA 95125. "No matter how sophisticated the camera, the photographer is still the one that makes it." - Doug Bartlow More about Del at www. bit.ly/ArnoldDelCarlo