Thomas Carabasi attended Princeton University where he studied photography. In 1980, after graduating and pursuing several apprenticeships in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Prescott, Arizona, he returned to Philadelphia where he began to teach photography at the college level. While teaching, he earned his MFA from Tyler School of Art and operated his own commercial studio in Philadelphia. His clients included the New York Times, Philadelphia Magazine, Fortune, and Interiors Magazine. His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally, have been published in numerous publications, and belong to museum collections in Sarasota, Tucson, Philadelphia and Brescia, Italy. He is currently the department head of photography and digital imaging at the Ringling College of Art and Design.