There comes a point in your life or career that you tend to analyze what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.
I’ve learned after my 65th birthday, that some of my decisions are not always right. What I’m about to say is my opinion, not fact. Most friends and clients love me as long as I say yes. When I say no that’s when the shit hits the fan! A whole genre of people really get pissed at me. Obviously, nobody wants to alienate friends, family, or clients. However there comes a time, when you have to stand on your own two feet and say what you believe and yes, that’s when the shit hits! It was pretty obvious to me when I left Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, and HBO. Actually, I was black-listed after I refused to sign their digital contract giving them all rights to my work.
I am going to ask 12 people to be part of a focus group to listen to what I have to say and then give me their opinion, whether it be good, bad or indifferent on a certain matter. For purposes of this blog I won’t mention names. The reason I’ve not written anything in a while is because I’ve been locked into a project which has taken 8 months and left me bloody. The great news – the client loved it and better than that they paid for it! I also had a slight problem on Christmas eve when I got bumped by a moving vehicle. I’m still rehabbing my ribs and shoulder.
I don’t remember who the writer was who said you can never go home again. Whoever wrote it was certainly right. I was born and bred in the West Village on 63 Carmine street. At the ripe old age of four, I went to NYU for the first time to see my father graduate. This was of course, after he served 4 years in the U. S. Army Air Force as a waist gunner on b-17 flying fortress. With the combination of “the rent being too high” and 9/11, JoAnne and I made a decision to no longer keep our studio space full time in Manhattan. I must say, we still consider ourselves NYC photographers as it was our original base.
We have a dear friend who is an entertainer by the name of Ronny Whyte who was playing at Pangea in New York this past Wednesday and we decided to go in to see him perform. I took advantage of the time there to revisit my old neighborhood and take some of the rust off my street photography. Twenty five years ago, I was quite good at street photography – not sure I am anymore! If you don’t use it – you lose it! Washington Square really did not change much since I was there last. Great music, people playing sports, lovers and families, dogs and people of all ages just enjoying being outdoors. On our way to the East Village we bumped into the NYU Stern business school’s pro Palestinian demonstration. My blog is not about politics. Did I say that? I’m pro Israel and at the same time I’m not against Palestine and I’m certainly anti-Hamas! For all the years I’ve been to Israel my brothers and sisters would say they are all cousins and I sometimes can’t tell them apart. However, the terrorists are different! Over many years of being a photojournalist, I’ve only been stopped maybe 3 or 4 times either by security, the military, or the police. I’ve never once been stopped by a 19 or 20 year old child who got in my face on a New York City sidewalk which is known as a public conveyance. If you’re on the sidewalk you may be photographed for better or worse. If I was to photograph someone and was invading their personal space I would stop. However, it was funny because these people were demonstrating but yet did not want to be photographed? To have some little shit challenge me was unacceptable by anyone’s standards. We stared at each other for maybe 2 minutes and with his mask on, I could only see his eyes. There was no doubt he was not Palestinian or an Israeli! He probably was not an NYU student or for that matter not even American! I decided not to cause a riot at my father’s former alma mater. I believe in the first amendment of free speech and believe I also have a right to make photographs. A half block away there were three police officers and a Sergeant. I asked the Sergeant his thoughts about me making a photograph on the street and he said of course it was okay. I casually mentioned the fact that I was blocked by their umbrellas several times. The Sergeant offered to escort me back to make some photos. At that point I said no. We spoke for 5 minutes. The irony was the Sergeant happened to be a muslim Arab. There is no doubt, my father is rolling over in his grave. My dad had a doctorate degree. If he was there and that piece of shit blocked him or got in his face, I’m pretty sure he would have bitch slapped him and God knows what would have happened after that. I guess I did not inherit all my fathers nerve and we’re living in a different time. I’m sharing some photos of my day. It’s been a while since I posted a blog.
Later in the evening we enjoyed listening to Ronny Whyte along with the two talented musician who accompanied him. It was also good getting together at the club with friends Steve, Mary, Diane, Quinn, and Errol. Ronny is a great entertainer. An added bonus all around Pangea was to seeing so many framed beautiful Alan Kaplan pastels adorning the walls.
The average person who knew Alan Kaplan from the many get-togethers parties etc, knew him as a photographer and artist who was married to a beautiful crazy lady by the name of Wendy and also had a lovely daughter by the name of Kyle, although I did not know her well.
Anybody in the professional New York Photographic Community knew Alan as a World Class Photographer and Painter who traveled the world recording amazing images and making films. When I think of f Alan Kaplan I think of him as the “Johnny Cash” of NYC photography. The man in black was a very low key, soft spoken guy who seemed to never raise his voice, not break a sweat, or get pissed off (or you did not know if he did). All and all he was quite the visionary! In the business he was known as a minimalistic and laid back image-maker. In the past 15 years, we’ve had hundreds of conversations on how we should save the world with our art. Rest assured Alan will be painting and photographing on another level of consciousness and will be kicking ass and taking names – but quietly. Unlike some of his contemporaries who are loud, boisterous, nasty and egotistical, Alan was the exact opposite. His talent was what it was all about. He let his talent speak for itself. He did not need to tell anyone how great he was.
I spoke to Alan for a short time last week and only sorry to not have spoke to him longer. Alan, God Bless you and thanks for leaving that signature Alan Kaplan body of work behind for all of us to remember you by. Hope to see you on the other side. By the way say hello to Peter B for me.
Approximately 91 years ago Mr. & Mrs Menscher brought into this world someone I called “Stan the Man.”
Over my career, I’ve had people who became mentors to me and became close friends who have helped me in many ways. You might say, I’ve been a lucky son-of-a-bitch! A long time ago I met Stanley. Stanley was what I would call a visionary. He was up there in my book as being one of the finest advertising photographers in NYC. He had clients like General Motors, RJ R Nabisco, Burger King, IBM and the list went on. He was a master of large, medium, and 35mm format photography not to mention 16mm film. Stan was the second Instructor hired to teach the Nikon Photo Workshop. He was a great teacher, motivator, great husband, father, and a wonderful friend. When it came to the computer and putting multimedia shows together he was far ahead of his time. Stanley would put together 26 projector shows, using two rear screens, and the shows were unbelieavable. Stanley’s heart was full of love and caring for his fellow human being. The only thing I held against him was, he never smoked or drank. That’s me trying to be funny.! He and his lovely wife Kathrin would come visit JoAnne and myself maybe twice a year and we’d always have a great time. I went to see him last year and it was obvious he was not feeling well.
I’ve attached this short funny video I did when we were together last. Stanley Video I want to say, Stanley thank you for the help you gave me and for the help you gave so many other photographers over the years. You were light years ahead of us all! I will always consider you a true visionary and a beautiful human being. We last spoke at Christmas. Kathrin called and told me that you had moved onto another level of consciousness. She said you had no pain and that you went peacefully in your sleep. Rest in peace Stanley. Several friends of yours shed some tears. Love you Joe D
Last September Ace, our Springer Spaniel of 15.5 years old, passed away. Months later, JoAnne would be still on the couch at 9:00PM checking her emails and she’d break into tears. She missed Ace. I called in some serious favors and Charlie, a world class English Springer Spaniel, appeared on our doorstep at about four months old.
Charlie is the fastest Springer we’ve ever had, and we’ve had quite a few Springers, She has blinding speed, and unbelievable agility. She flies from one couch to the next couch then over the coffee table and then and over my head, flies over the other couch again and lands on the floor of the dining room. She then makes a severe right hand turn into the kitchen, crashing into the storm door, and will turn around and do it again. That is when she’s in her wild and crazy, I want to play mood! You really can’t make this up! She is certifiable crazy. The breeder where Charlie came from won West Minster three times in the past 30 years. Charlie is royalty. I was told “the dog will love you, be your best friend, go hunting (if you want to go hunting) or can be a show dog if you want her to. You’ve got an amazingly great dog!” “However, she has a little attitude (maybe because she’s so smart).” “Charlie will look you in the eye from time to time and give you a look that says, “What’s in it for me?” Believe me I have gotten that look a few times since she’s arrived!
Given my cancer regime, I usually get up at 4:30-4:45, so I walk Charlie first thing in the morning. Then Charlie expects breakfast at exactly 6:00 or she gives me the stink eye! This is the equivalent of putting her paws on her hips and saying “Can we move this along now!” You get the feeling that Charlie is training me, I’m not training Charlie. Well, yesterday, I was running a little late, say 5:20, I got the treats in my left hand and the strap to put on Charlie. I cracked the door open with my foot a little too wide and Charlie exploded past me, she went out to the front of the driveway, squatted down and did a little pee, she looked to the left, the right, and saw a deer. She took off like a rocket ship. Keeping in mind, I’m not exactly, as light of foot as I was when I played college football, but I still move pretty well. I semi-chased after Charlie yelling her name and clapping my hands as she went through the neighbors yard, the next neighbors yard, and kept going. Keep in mind that if anything happens to Charlie, I’m a dead man! Thats not a joke, JoAnne will kill me! I’m chasing her and I realize that I need to go on a diagonal to cut her off. As I crossed the road carrying her red strap and her treats it dawned on me that I was in my underwear. Now granted, I no longer live in Greenwich Village, New York (where you could walk around in your underwear and nobody will say much!) But in Pennsylvania someone might get a 12 gauge and blow a hole in my ass! Screaming before 6 o’clock on a Sunday morning, my voice echos off the charts! What do I do? Charlie is not allowed to cross the road and she’s crossed it twice. She starts running the opposite direction and I try to cut her off before I realize this isn’t working. I put my hands down and I start walking back to our home. I look, I yell Charlie for the last time and Charlie runs straight at me. She comes right up to me, stops, sits down, and Charlie is waiting for her treat. My first reaction is to strangle Charlie, we dont have to worry about that because Charlie gave me the look…What’s in it for me?” and took off again. I make my way to the front door, threw the strap down, got ready to sit down on the front stairs, and Charlie comes by and goes into the house like she did nothing wrong. Now there’s an old saying, “if I’m lying, I’m dying.” I ain’t lying! To show that I was very upset I refused to make eye contact with her and ignored her for the next 24 hours. Well that was a mistake. Charlie just doesn’t give a shit! I’m the one who needs to go to a psychiatrist and find out what’s wrong with me? Attached you’ll find a few frames of our Charlie Girl.
On October 1, my friend Johnny Iacono called to invite me to have lunch with him and some of our old cronies from Sports Illustrated. He mentioned Bill Eppridge would also be there. I said if Bill’s coming I would surely come as well, as I hadn’t seen Bill in a while. He’s one of my heroes. A day and a half later I was watching the news and saw a portrait of Bill Eppridge on the screen and some of his photos and guessed he had passed.
Bill was a beautiful, human being as well as an extremely talented and great photojournalist. He was humble about what he’d accomplished over the last few decades.
For the record and for those not familiar with Bill’s work , Bill made the very enduring historic image of mortally wounded Senator Robert F. Kennedy lying on the floor of a Los Angeles hotel in June 1968. Mr. Kennedy had just won the California primary and was delivering an acceptance speech when he was shot by an Assassin. Both JoAnne and I had an opportunity to go to his retrospective at the Fairfield Museum a while back. I had no idea about how many other great iconic photographs, that I remembered in my minds eye, that he had made. The depth and scope of his work at that show really brought it home about how important his contribution was as a journalist.
On one level, if photography is magic then Ann Raine was Houdini. She put forth an unbelievable effort in everything that she did, and she reinvented herself on at least five occasions. We had very long discussions on where she wanted to go photographically, and in many ways I encouraged her with all my heart and soul. That was on the right hand; on the left hand I explained to her that the overall perception of photography was losing some of its magical powers. With the advent of digital, the image became a little too easy and a little too common. Having said that, the cream always comes to the top, and Ann was on the top and in many ways still is. Both JoAnne and I think of her all the time. There’s no doubt that she’s no longer in this consciousness but she has progressed and moved on to a finer one. Her great work will always be here; it will be archival in the truest sense of the word and last to infinity. The next time I see you, you are going to have to lead me on your workshop.
Please see the beautiful tribute from Warren Rosenberg.
One of the greatest sports photographers of our time, is John Iacono. I like to think of Johnny as the guaranteed man,no matter what the situation, whatever the weather conditions, lighting conditions, hot or cold, near of far, Johnny always delivers great photographs. There is no doubt in my mind that he has to be the nicest guy in the world. So much for Leo Durocher “Nice guys finish last.” Johnny finished first , most of the time. I’m proud to call him my friend. We’ve worked on many assignments over the years together and it’s always a pleasure.And not for anything, ya gotta love those brown eyes.
p.s. I don’t think he was happy with me sticking a camera in his face.
Joe DiMaggio 