Category Archives: color

There’s Nothing to Shoot

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to all the Ships at Sea,

The last few weeks have been HELL to the tenth degree. And I’m just not going to go there. I decided to take one day off and do nothing but split wood. Due to Hurricane Sandy I had two, hundred year old oaks come down. I decided to cut it up and split it for firewood for next year. I used a chainsaw to cut the wood but an old-fashioned maul to split it. The reality is, I genuinely enjoy it. It’s great exercise and it can stop you from going postal. And  the real thing about splitting wood, at the end of the day you can actually SEE finished product completed, done, that you did yourself. Not some stuff floating around cyber space-never really knowing if it has any meaning at all sometimes. Towards the end of my day I split a piece of oak and I looked inside and I just freaked out. I went into the studio and picked up a brand spanking new Canon G15, power shot. Never took a photograph with it. Robert Luckett sent it to me for test and evaluation for Adorama TV.  I had used its predecessor before and loved it.  As photographers we need to constantly be looking up, down, left, right, in front of us and behind us looking for an image. This may be one step above a snapshot but I like it. I did it for myself.

So the lesson for today is simply this: pick up your camera give yourself a little bit of time and make a photograph. Heck, it’s not a snapshot, it’s a photograph. If you ever have an opportunity to split some wood make sure of 2 things-you wear gloves and take a lesson that if you make a mistake, you could be in a lot of trouble.

All the best,

Joe D

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Dedicated to Annie

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to All the Ships at Sea,

I never put a name on a photograph nor do I put titles, and for the most part, I don’t dedicate photographs to anyone. Last night JoAnne and I had the opportunity to go visit an old friend, Ann Raine. Ann is one of the most beautiful, lovely, wonderful people I have ever met. In a world before multi-tasking, she was an international horse woman, potter, smart banker, business woman and more recently a great photographer. We went to say hello and we did. She is as beautiful today as when I met her 10 years ago. So I dedicate this photo to Ann, she inspired me to take it. It’s not my usual style. Thanks for the inspiration.

Dedicated to Ann

Dedicated to Ann

All the Best,

Joe D

You can now follow me on Twitter @dimaggio_photo
Visual Impressions with Joe DiMaggio, Sponsored by Adorama
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Peak Action

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

©Joe DiMaggio

I had an opportunity to teach at the University of Arizona. It afforded me time in the desert, in the dead of winter to photograph some interesting characters. Here’s a young man taking a short cut. I had no idea he was going to do this. The lesson of the day is to make sure your camera is ready to go. Pre-select shutter speed, aperture, color balance, ISO, type of metering, and exposure compensation. The next part of the equation would be experience and some would say luck, I believe you make your own luck. This photo was taken with a 35 mm camera, a 100mm Macro lens, ISO 50, shutter speed 1/500 f/4, single exposure. 

PRE-PRODUCTION, EXPERIENCE, EXECUTION

Goodbye Old Friend

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Photo © Joe DiMaggio 

Well I guess it’s time to take my Beret off for the last time for an old friend Kodachrome Film.  Yes, it’s true that I’ve not shot a roll of Kodachrome in 10 years but in the beginning, I was not only weaned on Tri-X but Kodachrome I and II.  When it came to color film, my film of choice for over 30 years was Kodachrome 25. I will never forget the look on the Director of Photography, for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, John Dominis’ face when I turned in 100 rolls of Kodachrome. At the time, I had finished up an assignment photographing the Wittington Brothers, who coincidentally inherited 900 million dollars and won LeMains in their class.  It was a feature piece I was working on and I did not have a drop dead deadline so I chose to shoot with Kodachrome. Another fond remembrance, was Max at the old, old B and H  I had a standing order with Max of 100 rolls of Kodachrome 25, 100 rolls of Kodachrome 64, 50 rolls of Velvia 50, and 50 rolls of Fuji 100.  There would be a line 2 deep at B and H at their 4 cash registers at the time.  Max would see me come into the store and yell, “Sorry I kept you so long waiting, Mr. DiMaggio, your order is ready” and everybody on line got very unhappy as I moved to the front of the line.  I really liked Max. 

Both JoAnne and I certainly don’t have an exact count of our photo archives, but we have to have over 1 million, two hundred thousand photos.  We probably will still be making scans from Kodachrome for many years to come.    I guess I had this roll still lying around because it was a 20 exposure roll and not 36 frames