Oh My God, it’s May!

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 15, 2013

To all the ships at sea,

If it’s May, it has to be the Indianapolis 500. This photograph was selected by Sports Illustrated as the third greatest photograph in the last 100 years of the 500. They reproduced it in the centennial issue and on their website. That’s the good news, the bad news is they never asked me. Does the word “copyright” mean anything to anyone? Who said “power to the people”? No, it’s “power to the corporation”, step on all the people. In this society, we all have to play by the same rules. Actually, I think someone wrote that in the Constitution. To my friends; go out and make some great photos. Capture history with a camera. Life is good, life is great. Health and happiness to everybody, even SI.

Alex Ferguson Retires

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 9, 2013

To all the shjps at sea, my first experience with soccer was meeting Pelé at the airport and following him for two weeks as he attempted to make soccer a main street sport in the United States.

“London (CNN) — English soccer’s most successful manager — Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson — is retiring at the end of the season after more than a quarter of a century at the helm, the club announced Wednesday.

The 71-year-old Scot has managed the English club, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and loved by millions of fans around the world, from Manchester to Manila and Montreal, since 1986.

Everton manager David Moyes is the bookmakers’ favorite to succeed his compatriot, and the 50-year-old will be confirmed as the next United boss on Thursday according to widespread British media reports.

During his 26 years in charge, Ferguson — a supporter of Britain’s Labour Party who’s renowned for dressing down players with the “hairdryer treatment” — has won more than 30 trophies, including 13 league championships.

Many fans took to Twitter to voice their appreciation, using the handle #thankyousiralex. He became Sir Alex when knighted by the queen more than a decade ago for his services to the game.

‘Thank you for everything,’ say Manchester United fans

As well as dominating on the pitch, Ferguson has helped build the century-old soccer club into a huge business operation whose progress is followed on stock exchanges around the world.

Its shares dipped nearly 5% in early trading Wednesday.

The Old Trafford club is owned by the American Glazer family, who oversaw the club’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange last August.

For the 2011-2012 season, United increased revenues by £14.2 million to £117.6 million ($182.4), the highest of any club in the Premier League.

But it lost the top spot as the world’s most valuable sports franchise in this year’s Forbes list to Spanish soccer club Real Madrid. Forbes valued Manchester United at $3.17 billion, still ahead of Barcelona, another Spanish soccer club, and two U.S. outfits, the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball and the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL.

Ferguson will bow out after the club’s last game of the season, an away match against West Bromwich Albion, on May 19, according to a statement from Manchester United.”

Baseball: Shooting from the Inside Out

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 6, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3nexjT6O4Lg

To all the ships at sea,

We’ve heard the comments; there are no new photos. We’ve heard it numerous times. My god, I’ve probably even said it myself. It’s our job as photographers and filmmakers to always try to come up with a new variation of a theme, and every once in a while we may stumble across a fine photograph. After a certain period of years, we may even be able to predict that it will indeed be a fine photograph and not just another snapshot or cliche number 377. As photographers and artists, all we can do is continue to try. If you have a moment, please stop and check out my new Adorama TV video, subscribe to my blog, TV show, and all the other good things.

Thanks, Joe D

The Sugar Man

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 9, 2013

To All the Ships at Sea,

I have a very dear friend that I have the utmost respect for. She constantly reminds me not to use certain terms. Well, I know she’s right and for the most part, I always listen to her. I’ve decided to take two words out of my vocabulary. One word is “no”…not in my vocab. Second word is “but”…not in my vocabulary (do I occasionally slip? Absolutely). Anybody following my blog knows that my dear friend Bert Sugar has moved on to the Irish Bar in the sky, where the double cutty sarks are wrapped around the perfume of cigar smoke (there was a day when you could smoke in bars). While researching for my book, Shooting From the Inside Out, I came across this note the Sugar man sent to me. I’d like you to look at it, read it, close your eyes and just think good thoughts. On that note, I wish you health and happiness.

All the Best,

Joe D

You can now follow me on Twitter @dimaggio_photo
Visual Impressions with Joe DiMaggio, Sponsored by Adorama
www.adorama.com
Adorama Learning Center

Amgen Tour of California

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on February 21, 2013

Hi to all the Ships at Sea,

Sandy is quite the writer. With all his experience, imagine he’s only 21 years old. Remember you’re only as young as you feel. Enjoy this article he wrote below. Although my photograph is not from the Amgen Tour of California as he speaks about, it does put my mind in a place of determination.

All the best,

Joe D

Before I start writing on today’s subject, I must apologize for being absent for almost 5 weeks. I took my flu shot as I was supposed to, but I learned when they say the elderly are most susceptible, they are not lying. I’m thankful I took that shot, as it might have been more severe.
Anyway, I am back and excited to write about America’s Premier Road Race… The Amgen Tour of California.
This year, it is a story of grit, determination and desire to move forward in the face of what to others might seem as insurmountable obstacles: the sport stunned by an overwhelming scandal, major sponsors withdrawing support and the fear of public condemnation. Faced with all this, two young ladies Kristen and Kelly marched on. Their leadership and entrepreneurism may prove to bring about the greatest racing competition yet.
For the first 7 years. An estimated 17,500,000 viewers, not to mention the additional millions that have seen it on 5 continents, have viewed the race live on the roads of California, according to the Highway Patrol.
This road statistic is based on 2.5 million people standing by the roadside each and every year. The race, in its first 7 years has ridden through 91 cities, towns and villages. The 2013 race will showcase 13 more host cities for the first time.
As far as California goes, the ATOC has introduced to the world, via TV and Social Media, not only familiar vistas such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood and sensational seascapes, but it has traversed many never-before-seen mountain peaks, vineyards and historical monasteries along the vast expanse of the Golden State that beckons tourists yearly.
As a rule, the race has traveled from North (San Francisco) to South (San Diego County). This year in the interest of diversification and new geological challenges, the race will start on Sunday May 12 in Escondido and 742 miles later on May 19th will end in Santa Rosa.
The international field will consist of 13 of the world’s top teams and almost 150 riders. In stage one, they must climb Mount Palomar, an effort that is compared to the arduous Tour de France’s Alpe d’Huez .
The second stage will see the riders going from the 100 degree heat of the Desert through the San Jacinto mountains and finishing atop the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Parking Lot… one of the toughest climbs anywhere giving the viewers a different look at the resort communities of the Coachella Valley.
Stage 3 starting in Palmdale will follow the route of the Famous Furnace Creek 508 though Santa Clarita.
Stage 4 has been part of earlier Tours. The riders will have an opportunity to enjoy cool ocean breezes after sweltering through the heat of the Desert. Like Stage 3, the Santa Clarita-Santa Barbara is a route used in the past. However, this race it is run in a reverse direction… South to North.
Stage 5 is from Santa Barbara to Avila Beach tracing the route used successful in the 2006 race, but again reversing direction. Avila is a picturesque harbor town with quaint shops and a beautiful Beach.
San Jose, the only city to take part in every edition of the ATOC, will be Stage 6. It will feature an individual time trial with a unique twist at the end… the most difficult sprint finish in the History of the Tour… the 3-kilometer climb up Metcalf Road (from Sea Level to 1000 feet in elevation attacking several pitches of at least a 10% grade.
Stage 7 starts in Livermore and concludes on the Summit of Mount Diablo. The experts predict that it is more than likely; the Tour will be won, or lost on the climb to the Peak.
Once again Stage 8 will capture the beauty of the entire San Francisco Bay Area, the final stage starts in the Marina District and concludes in picturesque Santa Rosa.
The State of California is home to over 30 million cyclists. Professional Cycling should not be damned, or abandoned because of the inconsiderate acts of a few selfish “win at all costs” individuals.
The ATOC stands as beacon for an untarnished, clean competition. Annual, the almost 800 mile event has been an example of what it is to go all out and do your best.
To paraphrase the late Grantland Rice who once wrote, “It’s not who wins, or loses, but how you play the game that counts!” The ATOC symbolizes competition you can trust and is worthy of support.

Things ARE Bigger in Texas

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 24, 2013

©Joe DiMaggio

Hi To All the Ships at Sea,

As photographers sometimes we tend to forget what it takes to make a fine photograph. There are other times, we stumble on a rock and the camera goes ‘click’, and something appears in the camera that looks good. You spend “x” number of decades trying to become more proficient at your visual literacy, and then one day you wake up and say “I’ve arrived! I’m good, actually I’m damn good.” Usually, within the next 72 hours, you wind up falling on your face. And it’s a brutal memory that you’re not as good as you think you are. I was fortunate enough to get a full-blown credential to the Formula 1 race in Austin, Texas. And to say I was a little excited is an understatement. On the same level, if I’m honest with myself I had some pretty big butterflies. It’s been awhile since I’ve been around Formula 1. I’ve gotta tell you, the above photograph brings you just a handful of really great people in Texas, who went way out of their way to help me do my job. I take my beret off to all of those great people, and I thank you to the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to come into your home and make some photographs. Please don’t succeed from the nation, we need Texas.

Joe D

http://www.adorama.com/
http://www.adorama.com/alc/
http://vimeo.com/dimaggiokalish

Visual Literacy

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 29, 2012

To all the ships at sea, I remember having a conversation with Alfred Eisenstaedt and the topic of lighting came up. Ron Thompson, a Nikon tech rep, said “Everybody knows that Sam Sam the Umbrella man invented the photo white umbrella sometime in the late 40s”. I had no reason to doubt it, but Eisy chimed in and reminded us that there’s nothing new in photography; when you think you’ve discovered something for the first time, it may have been done by someone else at an earlier date. Ten years later, one of my mentors, Paul Laddin, gifted me a book on early portraiture, and in there around 1898 was a photographer with a white umbrella and a flash gun in front of it. So what does this teach us about photography? We all strive to be unique and be the best that we can be. Sometimes we succeed, and other times, well let’s not go there. Negativity is a bad thing. I stumbled across this image I made in Tucson, done with a Canon A? camera, 15mm lens, Gitzo monopod, pickup truck, and safety harness. I believe the numbers were 1/15th of a second at f16, ISO 25. Go out and make some great photos, it’s all good. Joe D

I Really Did Invent the GoPro—NOT

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 24, 2012

We always want photography to be fun; if it’s not fun then why do it? On an assignment for Sports Illustrated on the first great woman drag racer of our times, Shirley Muldowney, I spent a week with her and it was just pure fun. It was after her horrific crash in 1984, yet she maintained a light, airy persona and was genuinely warm, friendly, and cooperative; until I mentioned that I wanted to mount a camera on the nose of her Top Fuel Dragster. In many ways, Shirley was a hero to me. She was a great spokesman for the sport, and a great role model for women. On the first run with the camera mounted on the nose of the Dragster, the torque and power snapped a quarter twenty bolt and the camera fell over and almost hit the cement. The safety wire stopped it from becoming a photographic hand grenade. On that note, let’s always remember; safety first, photography second. After talking with her engineer we decided to take the nose cone off and bolt the camera directly to the rail. The camera we used was a Nikon F with motor and a 16mm lens. Photos were taken on Kodachrome 64 with an exposure of f16 at 1/60 of a second, tripped with an old fashioned module light.

Dynalite Makes Its Own Light

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 6, 2012

To all the ships at sea, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a photographer and filmmaker, it’s that I don’t have all the answers. Hopefully, I’m smart enough to go to the people that do have the answers. Peter Poremba, the CEO, president, and senior electrical engineer of Dynalite was kind enough to go to Malibu on two separate occasions, and with the minimum amount of equipment he was able to light 30% of the arena: just one light and one power pack (if it was for SI, he would have brought in six power packs and eight lights). The combination of the electronic flash and the hypersync on my Canon 7D and Peter’s Nikon D7000 made for some photos that could not be taken back in the day. Some of the other photos in this blog I threw in just because I wanted to, will have a follow up.

Tech information: triggering device was the new Pocket Wizard Flex, power pack MP800, SH2000 Studio Head, SP-45 reflector, Nikon 85mm 1.4 lens, Canon 135mm lens.

Nikon D7000 exposures: 1/800 of a second, ISO 400, f4

Canon 7D exposures: 1/1200 of a second, ISO 500, f4.5

I Invented the GoPro— NOT

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 3, 2012

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.