Category Archives: Photography

The Bertster

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

 

© Joe DiMaggio

To all the ships at sea, if you ever decide to write a book (an autobiography, a memoir, etc) and you’re involved in the arts; whether you’re a musician, an oil painter, a sculptor, or even a photographer, I’m going to give you the tip of the century. Before you write the book, go into your archives and find ALL of your artwork, photography, and illustrations before you put a pencil to paper. Okay, a new ribbon in the typewriter. Okay, a new tape in the tape recorder. Buy a new laptop? Oh, remember the save button; always remember the save button. Now that I’ve given you this great advice, anyone who knows me knows that I did what? Didn’t pay any attention to it. So now my publisher is screaming because the book is finished, but the illustrations go back to the black and white film days and Kodachrome one and two, and the sheer numbers are astronomical. As a subtext to this, you also find out that the quote “your first 10,000 photographs are your worst” from Henri Cartier-Bresson was accurate times ten. While looking for several book covers I did with my dear friend Bert Sugar, I stumbled across a few frames. The Bertster was a true Damon Runyon character, and as I recently found out, he was one of the original Mad Men. He also wrote what is (in my mind) one of the greatest jingles of all time; N-e-s-t-l-e-s Nestles makes the very best… chocolate.

© Joe DiMaggio

 

© Joe DiMaggio

 

The Snake

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© Joe DiMaggio

The great author Berry Stainback wanted me to do an illustration for his book on Kenny “The Snake” Stabler, the premiere Oakland Raiders quarterback. To put it mildly, Kenny did not have an alter boy reputation. Let’s put it this way, Kenny may or may not have done things that were illegal, something I would not know anything about. And he may or may not have had more than one drink a day. Again, it’s not for me to say. The art director gave me cuarto blanco to do any illustration I wanted, and this was the cover illustration.

Done with a Nikon f2 55mm micro lens, one overhead wink light, one reflector, and one small electronic flash behind the helmet and bottle. I believe the exposure was 1/90 of a second at f8 ISO 64, but don’t hold me to it. See you next week, Joe D

The Tomcat

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© Joe DiMaggio

There are rules, and there are new rules. The new rule is to never look backwards, instead always look forwards. I’m starting to get it; it takes a while but no one ever said I was a fast learner. While searching the archives for my new book, I stumbled across a story I did for Time Magazine on the last F-14 Tomcat that was to be built. The story was very important to me, but I had no idea how important it would actually be. I absolutely fell in love with the Tomcat. I believe the basic design was done in 1966 and it’s been improved upon and modified scores of times ever since. When you talk to pilots about two planes, their eyes will light up; one of those planes is the P-51, and the other the Tomcat. I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Chuck Yeager at the Reno Air Races and he watched me climbing out of the P-51 Precious Metal. Without me asking a question, he smiled and said “You know what I like about that damn plane? You can fly it 300 feet off the ground, hit the stick and make a hard left around a barn. With these damn new planes, if you want to do that you’ve got to fly to a different state before you can make a left”. We both laughed. I will follow up on Precious Metal next week. To all the ships at sea, let’s go out and make some photos. Check out my Adorama TV show.

http://youtu.be/7DjOy2hN5NI

http://youtu.be/H48CJGZXijo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3YFNXjr-5M&feature=plcp

Photo above: Canon film camera; yes, I don’t remember which one, 14mm lens, on top of a cherry picker, ASA (ISO) 64, 1/15 of a second, at 2.8

Photo below: Canon camera, 300 2.8 lens, ISO 64, 1/100 of a second, at 2.8

© Joe DiMaggio

Pete Seeger

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© Joe DiMaggio

Last night I was pleasantly surprised to see my old friend Pete Seeger looking young and vibrant. I met Pete for the first time in 66— oops, I’m only 29— somebody’s not telling the truth. There is an expression that is overused, and that expression is “he or she is one-of-a -kind.” Let me be perfectly clear; there is only one Pete Seeger, and there will never be a second. He is truly one of the greatest human beings God put on this earth. At 93, he sounds like he’s 53.

To all the ships at sea, get a glass of wine, a beer, or cup of coffee, and sit down and listen to a a little bit of Pete Seeger’s music. By the way, he’s got a new book coming out and I certainly will be purchasing one

© Joe DiMaggio

© JoAnne Kalish

Tucson Firefighters

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© Joe DiMaggio

To all the ships at sea, until all of the photographs are found for my new book, you’re going to see an awful lot of blogs like this. For about ten years of my life, I spent two or three months a year teaching workshops at The U of A, and I had an opportunity to work with one of the greatest fire departments in the United States. Men and women who are dedicated to saving lives; every day knowing that they would be willing to trade their life to save yours. It takes a very special person to do that. I doubt very much that I could ever be able to do something like this, certainly not on a regular basis. It would me remiss of me to say all of our fire departments and firefighters are extremely special human beings. You know I’m not a big Photoshop guy, but I played a little bit with this.

Equipment: Canon D30, 200mm 1.8, ISO 100, 1/640 of a second, f2.8

Black and White

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© Micheal Hartnett

To all the ships at sea; we very rarely see a photograph of JoAnne and I together because most of the time she’s working on one specific project and I on another. The one good thing is we always agree; she says black, I say white, she says up, I say down. It makes for one hell of a relationship. Artistically, it really works. She is an extremely fine photographer and a difficult producer. As for me; best described as pain in the ass. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. Recently, there’s been a new artist community social network organization, the Milford Arts Alliance Open Gallery Tour, and we’ve had our first gallery opening for them which was extremely successful. A total of 60 clients came through with four sales. Great conversation; I thoroughly enjoyed it. A big thank you to Amy Bridge and her publication The Milford Journal, and a big thank you to Micheal Hartnett for a great photo. Have a great weekend.

I Invented the GoPro— NOT

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© Joe DiMaggio

One of the greatest assignments I had an opportunity to do was a three-week assignment for Sports Illustrated on three brothers, the Whittington brothers, who inherited nine hundred million dollars. They had an affinity for cars, planes, and all things exciting.  Their 1979 Le Mans entrance won first in their class. A small part of my assignment was to have the three cars together at speed, so I ordered a Mitchell mount from California, mounted a Nikon f2 with a motor with a 15mm lens, and a remote cord into the compartment where I sat on four roll bars. I explained that we only needed to go 40 to 50 miles an hour. Unfortunately, race cars like to grip at much higher speeds. We did one pass at about 100 miles an hour, I changed film, and on the second pass, I could feel the remote button and my camera was out of film. I believe my quote was “we can go back to the pits, I’m done”. I will never ever use those words again. Bill Whittington kicked in the turbo and we went from 100 to 160 in what seemed like a millisecond, until the rear end broke loose (please keep in mind, he had on his Nomex, his balaclava, his gloves, his helmet, and all of his racing belts. I had beech nut gum and a death grip on the roll cage). He took the emergency road, locked up all the brakes, came to a full stop, popped out of the automobile and I was still frozen. Paul Newman looked over and said to me “You must be out of your mind to get in a car with that wild man”. Once again, Paul was right.

As everyone knows, I was brought into the digital world kicking and screaming. Now that I’m working on my memoirs, I realize what  I did with this series cost several thousand dollars and someone could have gotten hurt (namely me). In the world of digital, using two GoPros, one on the front and one on the back of the car would’ve been safer. I don’t have to be in the car, so if they would like to do 180, so be it. The overall cost would be less than $600 with a safety wire. God bless digital.

Shot at 1/15th of a second on Kodachrome 25 at f11.

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio
Paul Newman with Don and Bill Whittington

Hannah

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© Joe DiMaggio

I had an opportunity to photograph Paul Newman six or seven times. One of the most beautiful things about Paul is he was a regular guy. He rolled up his sleeves (sometimes a sleeveless T-shirt), got dirt under his fingernails, and treated everyone as if they were his equal. Not pretentious, not a superstar (but of course he was!). In an impromptu environmental portrait I asked him why he was so comfortable in front of the lens; whether it was film, or film. He said to me when he was making a photograph, he tried to put the person at ease by saying “You’re beautiful, and you’re as pretty as you feel”. Please understand I didn’t tape record the conversation, so obviously, I’m leaving a few things out. He then said to me “Sometimes the camera falls in love with the person you’re photographing, and you cannot make a mistake. If the camera loves you, it’s all good”. Hannah is obviously no Paul Newman, but the camera loves her. I always remember that I am not the most important part of the photo; it’s all about the person you’re photographing, both their inner beauty and their outer persona.

Equipment used: Canon 7D camera, 24/105 zoom 100 macro lens, Dynalite 500 watt second Powerpack, studio head rhyme light, octagon modifier, Dynalite bare bulb, two silver reflectors, and a Manfrotto air lightstand.

ISO 100, 1/200th of a second, f8.

JoAnne Down South

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

© JoAnne Kalish

JoAnne is on assignment in Florida, so I thought I’d put up one of her underwater shots. It was taken with a Nikonos 4, a Nikonos strobe, and I believe the original was done on Velvia 50 in Bonaire. I like the photo so I put it up. To all the ships at sea, go out and make a photograph. Have a great Tuesday.