Charlie Girl AKA Psycho Charlie

© Joe DiMaggio

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.

© Joe DiMaggio
© Joe DiMaggio
Stink eye Charlie © Joe DiMaggio
Charlie & Mia Sofia Linguine © Joe DiMaggio
Charlie & Mia Sofia Linguine © Joe DiMaggio

A People to People Photo Exchange: Cuba from Miami January 14-21, 2014

The-Malecon-Havana-Cuba R

Cuba from a Photographers’ Lens:

A People to People Photo Expedition:
Cuba from Miami January 14 to 21, 2014 with the Center for Cuban Studies, Photographers Joe DiMaggio & JoAnne Kalish and in Cuba, Photographer Rolando Pujól
Please contact me for additional information.

Joe DiMaggio’s Personal Tribute to the 4th of July

Intro by Weir McBride

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio

For veteran New York photographer Joe DiMaggio, July 4th remains a time for gratitude. “I am one of the luckiest people in the world. Many of my friends are artists, whether they be painters, writers, poets, musicians photographers or what have you. What’s the term that is used-  starving artists? Every once in a while, I tend to complain and moan about the state of the union. Several friends have reminded me if you don’t like the state of the union you can go somewhere else. To be honest, I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world a couple of times. Every once in a while, I remember to get on bended knee and kiss the ground as I’m fortunate enough to live in the greatest country in the world. Think about it…

“The photograph of the model’s hand was a silhouette done on a transparent white background with 4 electronic flashes on the white background. The photo was originally done on Kodachrome 25 with the Singh-Ray UV Filter. The film was  rewound and reloaded back into the camera and a 2nd front lit image of an American Flag with a fan blowing on it was shot over the silhouette. The original photo had no help from photoshop because it was actually done before photoshop existed. Well what do you know — this older image has just been selected as a magazine cover and the client asked that the transparent white background be changed to blue as it would not work well with their logo. Hmm, have we heard this before? My photoshop skills are minimal at best and I intentionally keep it that way. Twelve to fourteen hours a day is enough work. An assistant gave me a hand and we dropped the blue into the background for the client.

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio

“This second photo was inspired as I was splitting wood for my fireplace and saw the inside grain of one particular piece of wood. I picked up a my EOS 5D Mark III, 100mm Macro with the Singh Ray Hi-Lux filter and made several frames. I then  shot one of my small American Flags and my assistant was kind enough to blend them together.”

To keep track of all that Joe and JoAnne are currently involved in, you need to visit their frequently up-dated website  You can also learn more about their workshop projects and fine art photography.  http://www.dimaggio-kalish.com and http://www.dimaggio-kalishworkshops.com

You Can’t Make This Up

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio

“I hate artist’s statements. They are pretentious, and I am pretentious enough without adding to it. I have read too many statements about artists who are “exploring psycho/sexual boundaries” or artists who are “Concerned with the tension between x and y…” These statements are more for the artists, to convince themselves that they are creating something meaningful and of value. I reality you buy art because it connects with you, or it matches your couch, not because the artist was “depicting the hypocrisy of gender roles in a post modern America”. I am much more interested to hear what you think about my work, then to tell you what I think about it.”

Thann Clark

There are very few things that motivate me to the point of screaming, jumping up and down, or possibly wetting myself. I was introduced to a young man by the name of Thann Clark and I went to his webpage. What you’ve read above is his artist’s statement.  I am totally blessed that most of my friends are artists, whether  they use oil, water, pen, pencil, cameras, blues, jazz, poetry, or ballet; they’re all artists. I strongly recommend to Thann that he should get his statement copyrighted and trademarked, because if he doesn’t, I’m going to steal it. This artists statement could go on from here to infinity. I’m throwing a photo in here just because I want to. Just for people to keep records, the above gorilla photograph was the number one selling greeting card for over two years. Canon EOS, 600 f4, 1/100th at f4, ISO 100, Gitzo monopod.

Embrace

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio

Why would anybody put up this genre of photograph in June when obviously the photograph as taken in the dead of winter? That’s funny, I asked myself the same question. There are two basic reasons: the first is I just found this photo I had been trying to find for the last few years for my book, so I scanned it and now you have an opportunity to see it, and the second is I just liked the feeling. It makes me feel warm. Two lovers outside a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village. Very cold and snowy night. One grabbed shot, EOS camera, 85 1.2, ISO 200, 1/60th at f2. No rhyme or reason, I just like it.

DUMBO AM-PM

 

© Joe DiMaggio

To all the ships at sea,

A quarter of a century ago, you couldn’t walk the streets of Dumbo unless you had an armed guard. It has now become one of the most chicy-chic places in the metropolitan area. Multi-million dollar construction— oops, I used the wrong word. I used the m word when I should have used the b word.  What a great place to make photographs. Join JoAnne and myself on the late afternoon/early evening of Thursday June 13th from 4-9. Check it out on the Adorama Workshop site. It’s all good, it’s all great, it’s all magic. One opening left for the rodeo workshop.

http://www.adorama.com/workshops/ws-joe-dimaggio-photowalking-brooklyn-bridge-park-2013-06-13

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio