Chinese New Year

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 17, 2013

©Joe DiMaggio

Hi to all the ships at sea,

Hi guys, we have a very special day coming up-it is February 17th. It’s the celebration of, the year of the snake, the Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year holds a special place in my heart. That’s the first date I had with JoAnne-so it’s officially and unofficially our anniversary. If you’ve never celebrated the Chinese New Year before or photographed it-it’s just awesome and so much fun. Come join us-see the link for Adorama.

Joe D

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Formula One Austin, Texas

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on November 25, 2012

To All The Ships at Sea

Yes, I know I’m many blogs short – I’ve been running around a lot.

As I’m writing this blog I am watching the warm up lap of the final Formula 1 2012 Series. Last week, I had one of the greatest weeks of my life, as I had an opportunity to get back into photographing the F1 series that I started with many years ago. Whoa…I have to stop… as the current world champion Sebastian Vettel, just spun out on lap number two damaging his race car. Both Alonso and Massa, from Ferrari, got great starts and Alonso just passed Massa and Webber to take second place. When I called my agent six months ago, I told him I wanted to do the Austin Texas F1 inaugural race. In all due respect he told me, I was out-of-my-mind. He said, “you’ve been away for quite a while and the chances of you getting a credential are slim to none.” Much to everyone’s surprise F1 keeps impeccable records and they checked my past credentials and not only gave me a credential but gave me a full blown credential with ALL access!

As I shaped up at the credential center I ran into an old (long time) photographer friend from Mexico. He asked when was my last race as had not seen me in years. I said, “1991 and he replied, “that was 21 years ago.” Not until he said that, did I realize in the world of photography and F1 that was an eternity. If you ever talk to a Boxer before he gets in the ring or an actor before they go on stage they will confide in you they have butterflies. When I stepped into the pits it took about 30 seconds and the butterflies were gone and I felt I was home again. A week before I left for Austin I went to the closest interstate to practice high speed pans. I worked on both my inside and outside pans. I looked at my photos and picked the top thirty and got a base for what shutter speed I needed.

There is no doubt I will write more on F1 before the year is up. I’d like to end this by saying every person I met in the international and national Press as well as all the Texans I met were great and did everything they could to get me up to speed. The international photo brotherhood is alive and well. I’m cutting this short as I need to get back to watching the race finale.

Jenson Button F1 © Joe DiMaggio

: Felipe Massa © 2012 Joe DiMaggio

Recent Central Park Workshop

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on November 1, 2012

Had another great workshop in Central Park. We had a very special group of photographers that got along extremely well. I saw some wonderful photos that were made by many of you. A great time was had by all. Thank you Monica from Adorama for putting these workshops together.

TIME MAGAZINE ASSIGNMENT

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on October 23, 2012

I had a half hour off the other day and I decided to look through some of my old TIME magazine and Sports Illustrated assignments. I stumbled across this photo that I did for them to celebrate the opening of Giant Stadium. I was totally blown away when I heard they were going to build a new stadium. It seems like yesterday they had just built a new stadium. Of course, a business person friend of mine explained that it’s all about the super boxes and the Fortune 500 Companies. Well, considering my only interest is between the goal line and the goal line, a super box just doesn’t do it for me. If TIME asks me to go and shoot the new one, it’s going to take me a little longer to get to the bird’s-eye perch. See you at the game!

Continue reading →

Adorama Inaugural Street Fair

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 13, 2011

My dear friend Monica Cipnic asked me if I would come and do a few programs for the Adorama Inaugural Street Fair. My answer was, “Of course!” She put me in contact with Brian Green, who is Vice President of Marketing. Two phone calls, one email, and we were ready to go. To say the program was successful is really an understatement. They had over 9,000 attendees and it was a great cross-section of photographers, beginners to well-seasoned pros. And the bottom line is: It was a lot of fun. I managed to squeeze in 3 separate programs, and from the response on Facebook, that was pretty successful. (Notice how I’m throwing around all those high-tech, modern things like “Facebook”? You didn’t think I knew what that was, did you? If it’s good enough for Lady Gaga and President Obama, who am I to say it’s not cool?) Hopefully, this will be just the first of many. Thank the powers that be for the opportunity.

Joe DiMaggio

Wheeler at MOMA

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 10, 2011

I know everyone who attended the photo retreat on Memorial Day weekend- Every person, to a man and a woman all said the same thing. They absolutely loved Dennis Wheeler. The idea of sharing my 30 plus years relationship with Dennis with the students worked out better than I expected. To say Dennis is a master of the arts would be an understatement. He’s a Renaissance man on steroids. Every time I feel a visual block getting ready to bite me on the butt I call Dennis and invite myself to his farm, where he proceeds to motivate me to get off my duff and start producing work. I sat listening to every word that Dennis spoke and watching the faces of the participants and guests at the party. It was a beautiful thing. Here are a couple of comments.

“Thank you for inviting me to the Retreat/Party. It was an enjoyable experience, in which I learned a great deal about photography, creativity and myself. Meeting Dennis Wheeler gave me new insight into questions that remained unanswered until his down to earth, realism in his lecture.

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“The Retreat was a great success on all levels. Hope to see you on June 12, 2011 in Lower Manhattan. All the best.”

~Ralph Mocciola

“A special thank you to Dennis Wheeler for demonstrating that creativity does not stop at 60 – whatever – years old!”

~Linda Pedersen

“It is hard to put into words what this past visit with you has meant. I find the below a step in the process of putting into words what occurred at your home and Learning Center. That said, I look forward to further workshops that explore what the below author suggests, and what Dennis Wheeler demonstrated.”

~David Kenny

“I had a wonderful time, learned a lot, got to exchange ideas with a great group of photographers, had an opportunity to listen and learn from an accomplished artist (Dennis Wheeler)…”

~Ann Raine

“Thank you for a most wonderful day, I think it was better than any of us could have imagined. It was a great experience to sit around and talk about the arts and meet and spend time with Dennis, and to be topped off with some great music with Bobby and the boys. But the best was the hospitality you, Joe and Dylan exhibited by opening your home to us and ensuring that we all had a marvelous day. Thanks again, and look forward to seeing everyone again, real soon.”
~Jeffery Thomas

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A Good Day- No, a Great Day!

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 3, 2011

Somebody once said, bad things happen in Threes. Yesterday was the exact opposite. It started out very good, went to great, and became fantastic. Both JoAnne and I had a shoot at the Paul Taylor Dance Company with two world class modern dancers. The shoot was primarily JoAnne’s but I tagged along to help with logistics, security, and shot a short video of her technique. The dancers Cisco Graciano and Michelle Fleet were two wonderfully easy going and talented people.The space was awesome. It doesn’t get better then that. At the end of the shoot, we followed up with a short but great meeting with our publisher Paul Laddin. Our dear friend Monica Cipnic was kind enough to invite us to the Grand Opening Party at Adorama Professional. I’ve been to a lot of parties and this one was over the top. The inspiration and execution fell on the shoulders of Anne Cahill and suffice to say, she did a magnificent job and a good time was had by all. Last but not least, I had an opportunity to catch up with some old friends and made some new ones. It was great to see Bill Eppridge along with his wife Adrienne, there is no doubt Bill is definitively one of the finest photographers in our day and also happens to be a world class gentlemen. As I mentioned to Anne, they don’t make them like this anymore. After all these years, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mendlowitz. There’s an old Italian word to describe him – Mensch.

In This Corner The Final Chapter

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on March 30, 2011

Delen Parsley before fight

The first thing you learn in journalism school is there has to be a beginning, middle and end. Six years ago when I started the documentary “In This Corner” (I thought it would only take a year) I knew the film would have a beginning, middle but no end One of the protagonists in my film asked me if I was directing the documentary. I explained the director was a combination of God, and him and I show up and watch the story progress. On Sunday the 27th I had a Dumbo Workshop, sponsored by Adorama and ran into an old friend by the name of Blimp. He informed me his son Delan would be having another fight at BB King’s and would I be going? I told Blimp thanks for the heads up and why did he give me so much notice? Dylan and I made an executive decision to go to the fight. We prepped the following day and headed out for another 12 hour day. I’m going to share this with you – something magical happened that evening. For the first time in many decades, I was totally relaxed and at peace with the world. I indirectly thought, let the shit fall where it falls because I’m going to have a great evening. I let Dylan do all the hard work. Well somewhere around 3 in the morning after having a celebratory Jameson with James Moore, John Duddy, and Dylan Michael, we raised a glass to James Moore’s new baby who coincidentally is also called Dylan Michael. I realized that the time they are a’changing. I believe that this attitude change is going to stay with me for the balance of my career and I’m hoping it leads to much better filmmaking and my photography. At least several run on sentences ago, I mentioned a beginning, middle and end. The combination of Delan Parsley’s unanimous decision Win, running into my old friend writer Pete Hamill, and grabbing a flying noisy interview with Trainer Harry Keitt, Lou DeBella, James Moore and Duddy, we now have an honest no bullshit end to “In This Corner” Three more days of talking head interviews, two days of “B” role, and 9 months of editing and with any luck at all we’ll have a completed (I want it to be great) film.

Use it or Lose it!

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on October 7, 2010

One of the biggest complaints JoAnne and I hear from amateurs and pros is that they have nothing to photograph. When I hear that sometimes my jaw clenches, and if I’m not careful, I could break a tooth. The reality is you could spend half a lifetime in your backyard and never make the same photograph twice. Let’s beat up two more cliches, Practice makes perfect. The other complaint I hear is that, “I don’t have enough time in the day to make great photos.” My answer is, MAKE THE TIME! One of my students, Larry Malang, asked if I would do his portrait for his webpage. Of course I would be happy to do his portrait for a $1500 sitting fee. Larry thought that was fair. We spent about 20 minutes in the studio, had several usable frames. Oops! I don’t mean frames I mean digital images. Sometimes I fall back to ASA. Okay, I know it’s ISO. One of the reasons I jumped at this photographic opportunity is because he is an extremely bright and creative gentleman. He has been reincarnated several times. I find his face and his intensity charming. Larry, the check is in the mail right?

There are no miserable days, there are only great photographic opportunities

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 26, 2010

Well here we are, the day after a very cold, windy, torrential rainy, Joe DiMaggio workshop with and international cast of players. With all of the adversity and all the logistical problems, I think my students kicked ass and took names. As we were starting to peel off in the early evening, someone thanked me for conducting a great workshop but I said without their participation, there is no workshop. My job is to motivate and inspire but the student is the person who does execution of the visual literacy which will result in a strong photograph. It was a small intimate group of 15. Thanks to the FDNY Firehouse Engine 205 & Ladder 118, one of the oldest fire departments in Brooklyn allowed us to not only do a photographic tour and environmental portraits but they were kind enough to have a real fire call so we all got a very up close and personal look at what these great people do to protect our lives, family and property. As some of my close friends know, I lost two firemen friends in 9/11, Terrence Farrell and Doug Miller. Many thanks to my partner JoAnne Kalish, Dylan DiMaggio, Larry Malang and of course Monica Cipnic.