Standardization and Simplification

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 14, 2011

: Blues player Eddie Kirkland, ©Joe DiMaggio

One day I was teaching a class and I came up with a saying, standardization and simplification. To be quite honest, I don’t know if I heard it from someone else, or I actually made it up. What do I mean by standardization and simplification? By this I mean, know your equipment, keep it to an absolute minimum, make your insurance photographs, and once you’ve nailed that then you can experiment. Less is more. Simple, straightforward, composition: it will never fail you. When I visited Japan I was initially very surprised when I visited a Japanese garden. There was nothing there. The anthropologist I was with, took me by the hand and showed me what was there. Very simple, basic, and to the point. Once you see it, you’ll never forget it. It’s all about visual literacy. So, go out and make some great photos.

Signing off,

Joe D.

Roy Scheider A Man For All Seasons

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 10, 2011

To All The Ships At Sea

To be honest I had no idea I was going to write yesterday’s blog and I really had no idea I was going to write today’s blog. At approximately 1:30 last night, still transferring files from the old hard drives to the Wiebetech RTX, I stumbled across one of JoAnne’s files marked “Roy Scheider”. I opened it and there was a photo of Roy and myself in his home. When I looked at the photo I realized the tooth I’m wearing is from the 3427 lb Great White from yesterday’s blog. Talk about a coincidence. You can’t make this stuff up!

There have been very few times in my career, where everything was in perfect alignment and the timing was perfect and the decision was made, and that decision could not have been better. In pre-production for the Discovery Documentary on White Sharks, I wanted to interview Roy Scheider, because of his starring role in “Jaws”. Roy and I had met many years before and it was a natural fit. After talking to him on the phone, I made the decision not to interview him, but to have him do all of the narration for the film.

To this day I cannot watch the film, but I can still listen to it. He is the best part of that film. I consider Roy one of the all time great actors.

There are very few actors that have the ability to go from playing “Cloudy” in “The French Connection” to Joe Gideon in “All That Jazz”. Roy was a master artist and an amazing talent. He will be missed…

Joe DiMaggio

Shark Week, August 9, 2011.

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 9, 2011

©Dylan DiMaggio 2005

Normally During Shark week my phone constantly rings off the hook. Purely by accident, after I downloaded all of my individual hard drives into the sixteen terabyte Wiebetech RTX, I stumbled across some photographs in South Africa that were taken while filming my documentary for Shark Week a few years ago. I’ve been photographing and filming sharks since 1974.

Copyright Joe DiMaggio Photo of 3,427 lb Great White Shark with son Dylan DiMaggio and Captain Frank Mundus

W. Gene Smith once told me, that a Great Photo does not require a Caption. OK, so I guess this is not a great photo. The photo is of my son Dylan DiMaggio, Captain Frank Mundus and last but not least is the world’s largest Great White Shark ever caught on Rod and Reel, a 3,427 Pound Great White. If you look at Frank’s hand and make an imaginary line to the tooth below his hand, you will see the 3 teeth I was given for my photography that was over and above the line of duty.

To All The Ships At Sea: Always remember to watch where you swim, the ocean is theirs.

Joe D.

30 Years and Counting

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 8, 2011

Back in the Apollo days, it was a great time for photographers. As a matter of fact, the camaraderie between photographers was equal to the competition between the photographers. It may have been the end of the golden age of photography and the very beginning of the cold, calculating, digitizing of photography. Al was never a close friend but was, and is, a great recorder of light, action, stories, and now a very accomplished filmmaker. You learn in our business, you have to respect the competition. Respect is paramount in any relationship, or for that matter it may be the only critical part of a relationship. Al e-mailed me a multi-media show he did which is awesome called The South in the 60’s and I’d like to share it with you. I’m hoping Al and I will have the opportunity to work together in the near future. Check him out; check out his books, he’s an old school heavy weight.

Joe D

Ron Thompson, Anthony Donna, Director of Photography Time Magazine- Arnold Drapkin, Ralph Morse, Joe DiMaggio

Al Satterwhite –

Al Satterwhite film –

Happy Birthday Joe

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 5, 2011

Forty-five years ago in a small hospital a very small baby was born. He was under two pounds. For the most part his coloration was black and he had a slight hole in his chest. He was over 2 months premature. The first Doctor looked at me and said you have a son but he will not live until tomorrow. In a millisecond I went crazy. My son Joseph was on one hand the luckiest baby in the world as he had a mother and father who loved him and had a great Doctor, from France, who literally sat with him for almost 48 consecutive hours. Joseph spent 72 days in an incubator and beat all the odds and grew up to be a very special wonderful human being. Today is his 45th birthday. I originally wanted to say it would have been his 45th birthday. I’m not going to say that. I think about him everyday. Not one day goes by when I don’t smile when I think about him and not one day goes by where I don’t cry that I lost him. I will always love you Joseph. Happy Birthday Joe