Category Archives: Uncategorized

Boom Boom Mancini- One More Time From the Top

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

I guess it was Yogi Berra who first said, “deja vu all over again.” My last shoot before I went in for my double hip replacement was with my dear friend, Angelo Dundee. As we were doing our huggy kissy goodbye he mentioned another old friend, Ray Mancini. I asked how Boom Boom was doing. He told me he was out in California and he was doing great. I had a nice talk with him on the phone today. He not only looks great, he sounds great, it’s all good. We talked about possibly putting a project together. Nothing would please me more than to work on a creative project with someone like Boom Boom whose been in the trenches and knows what its all about. I genuinely believe in timing and karma and this may be a great time and great karma to team up with an old friend, whose still pretty young.

Joe D

Ann Raine the Great

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

As a photographer and a film maker, I have the ultimate obligation to make my clients happy. They pay me and they expect to get what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. That’s my job and I do the best possible job I can do. Of course, you always try to push the envelope or think out of the box, all of those cliches, which I interpret as putting a little of your own style into the visual medium. As a mentor and a teacher, I feel the same obligation. I take it very seriously and sometimes I go back to the studio and I wonder, “Did I do a good job, did they get it, were they able to make a better photograph?” Sometimes you know, sometimes you don’t. In every workshop there are a few photographers that shine brighter than the rest. They’re not necessarily the best photographers, but they put forth one hell of an effort. Ann Raine is a California girl who’s been transplanted to the East Coast. She loves Arabian horses and she loves photography. Attached you’ll find three of her photos and a link to several more. I’d like to thank Ann for the kind words. She motivates me to do a better job. As the truth be known, I constantly learn from the students. The student becomes the teacher, and the teacher becomes the student.

“I’ve attended numerous photo-walk workshops with Joe DiMaggio over the last several years, and I keep returning for a number of reasons: Great mentoring, interesting photographic venues, but most importantly, every time I participate in one of these day-long events, I feel a freedom to experiment, a license to open up and go-for-it (photographically speaking.) I am not as concerned about getting every photo perfect as I am in pushing the limits of my skill and knowledge, by practicing and experimenting to ultimately get the great photo!”

Kayaking with Murphy

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Photo ©Joe DiMaggio

You would think after several decades of making photographs there would be no surprises, but the greatest thing about photography is that there’s always a surprise. You can pre plan everything to the final millimeter, you can pick the perfect day for light, you can have the best athletes or models, but invariably something will come up and will bite you on the –whatever. This is a perfect example, of Murphy rearing his ugly head. We planned this shoot several months ago waiting for the right rain conditions so we could make great photographs on the upper portions of the Raymondskill Creek. Cue the cameras! Cue the kayakers, let’s go! But Murphy cued three logs that broke loose and were blocking the creek. Ya can’t kayak over a log, and you can’t kayak through a log, so we went to plan B. Plan B was a 44 foot drop. To put that into perspective, that s a 4 story building straight down. The problem with the shot is the extreme heavy mist. It was like putting a Tupperware cap over your lens. The front element of the lens was absolutely soaking wet all the time and as we all know, anything put in front of a lens will degrade the image. I was shooting with the Sigma 150-500 and I didn’t have the underwater version- OK that’s me trying to be funny again. One of the keys in photography is your ability to be flexible, when you don’t get what you want- you gotta get something. We hiked up one more mile to a tributary and were able to get a 30 foot drop shot with the 24-70 Sigma. ISO and exposure are approximately the same; the difference would be considerably less mist. Keep on shooting, it’s all good. Next time I see you- I’ll have a brand new set of wheels- half titanium and half ceramic.

Joe D

 

Photos ©Joe DiMaggio

Fishing Fool

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Painting by Paul Laddin

I was out fishing one day in the Huntington Triangle and I ran into a wise fisherman. He was quite a character. We talked about lures, trolling, and then we talked about advertising photography. Little did I know, I was in the presence of the president of one of the finest, most avant garde ad agencies in the United States. Here we are 26 years later, and we’re very dear friends. I call him my Rabbi, my brother, my mentor, and my dear friend. Like all relationships it is predicated on the most important thing, respect. His name is Paul Laddin. On top of all of his accomplishments, first accomplishment is, of course, he is married to a beautiful and brilliant woman named Jennie. Second to that, he is quite the accomplished artist. He works in oil and his work is wonderful. If you look closely at the artwork I’ve included, you may recognize a younger photographer, I’m not sure I know his name.

Thank you Paul for being such a great friend. Love you.

Joe D

Photo ©Joe DiMaggio

Lite Pads

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

I’ve been using electronic flash from the beginning of my career. In the 70’s I standardized by using Dynalite strobes. There is no doubt, in my mind, that Dynalite, pound for pound, penny for penny, is the best electronic flash system you can get. Broncolor is really cool, but it’s very expensive. I had an opportunity to experiment with a new product: Rosco lightpads. Rosco is a LED continuous light source that comes in many different flavors – 20×24, 12×12, and even circles.

You name it, they have it. It has a very simple

mounting system as well. The light the pads produce is sweet. When I take all the knowledge that I learned over the years, with the electronic flash and the bending of available light, I can do some really cool things. The greatest advantage of these lights, is that they last forever, the color is consistent, they’re relatively small & easy to maneuver. This makes them easy to use on location with batteries rather than with AC. Now, they may not replace all electronic flash, but they’re a great addition to your photographic repertoire. For the photographer who doesn’t want to go to electronic flash for whatever reason, this is a natural progression. Also see my partner photographer JoAnne Kalish’s blog and another example of what she did using these litepads.

Photo © MMIX Joe Maggio

 

A Lovely Note from AJ Langer

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Back in 2007, I received a New Years greeting from my dear friend AJ Langer. AJ is an extremely talented actress and beautiful young lady. AJ and her husband Charlie are the parents of two gorgeous children, Jos and Jack. AJ and I had an opportunity to do several tv shows together in Yellowstone and in Belize. I instructed AJ in the art of still photography. Little did I know, that she knew a whole lot more than she was letting on. When you grow up in front of the camera, you have the opportunity to learn what it’s like to be behind the camera. She taught me a few a things. I will fondly remember during our travels together. She paid me a lovely compliment one time and said “You’re a great teacher, and I’d go anywhere in the world with you.” I’m going to steal a few of AJ’s photos from her email and put them on my blog. Anyone who knows me knows, that I give credit where credit is due. The photograph that AJ did is a world class photograph, not a snapshot. She has become quite, the accomplished photographer.

All photos ©AJ Langer

The Great Bill Shatner

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Copyright Joe DiMaggio, 2003

Every time I have an opportunity to introduce Bill whether it be one of my TV shows or one of the pilots, I love to just introduce him as The Great Bill Shatner. I do that because he is not only a great actor, a wonderful director, an extremely compassionate man, a dedicated philanthropist and probably the most avid reader I’ve ever met.

Bill Shatner, JoAnne Kalish, Liz Shatner, Joe DiMaggio and Willy Brown the Mayor of San Francisco, Copyright Charles Rudnick

He is genuinely one of the busiest people in all of Hollywood. Oops, Studio City. But Bill is one other thing, he will take time out of his busy schedule and write an old friend. Charles Rudnick and I are not only close friends, but we’ve worked together on a myriad of projects over the last 25 years. Charles is a brilliant film maker,  great talent, has a beautiful family, and also stage four bladder cancer, WHICH HE WILL BEAT! I guess from now on I’ll have to introduce Bill as the Sweet Bill Shatner. JoAnne reminds me this blog is supposed to be about photography and film making. That’s true but Bill and his lovely wife Liz are both photographers and film makers, Charles is a photographer and film maker. They’ve both taught me a lot about communication and how to take an idea and put it on a piece of film.

Shatner wrote to my friend Charles:

“I hear you are one tough son of a bitch. Joe DiMaggio told me that, so it must be true. As Admiral Halsey said “attack, attack, attack” and that’s what you seem to be doing with your treatment. Good for you. I wish you well and will look forward to hearing about your next Olympics.”

Charles Rudnick, JoAnne Kalish, Joe DiMaggio and Bill Shatner, Copyright Liz Shatner

Charles wrote:

Thank you for sending your good wishes…it does mean a lot to me.  With cancer the cure is in a large way tougher than the disease.  Your Admiral Halsey was very appropriate.  I admire your grasp of history.  I am looking  forward to seeing your documentary The Captains.

I finished my first round of chemo and now have daily radiation where I’m zapped with gamma rays for 7 weeks.  I get pretty wiped out.  I have great doctors and they  are optimistic.  My family, friends and co-workers have been rallying and especially  my wife Carmen and my girls (picture of my girls enclosed). Daughters come in real handy. My best to you and Liz and your family, Charles”

Great Photographer, Great Friend, and Survivor

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on
To All the ships at Sea
If you know me, you know I tend to repeat myself. It’s what I do. I’ve told you before I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I’ve got the best friends anyone could ask for. My friendship and respect for Don Nelson goes back a long way. He is truly a hero to me. He is bright, tough and never gives up. Great photographer; and a great friend. We all could learn by his courage.
Joe D.
About Don –
“My 23 years as a Nikon rep represent my times of most accomplishments. Calling on the large camera stores, the White House, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, AP, UPI, USA TODAY and being a staff photographer for the Redskins for six years brought me closer to understanding the needs of photojournalists. Washington, DC, the photojournalists’ headquarters taught and tested me. It was a good time. In 1987 I resigned to buy a business in Nashville. My sons were in high school at the time and after several years my business in Nashville failed. It was time to be back in the photo (equipment) business. I went to work for Pentax and moved from Nashville area down to the Atlanta area of Georgia. I worked for them for fourteen years until my cancer (Hodgkins) was discovered in 2005. After chemo, radiation, and stem cell transplant I’m quietly getting ready to move back to the Nashville area. Our sons (2), Scott and Jeffrey still live there. It’ll be good to be convenient to them. My favorite photography is scenic in nature. Slow shutter speeds at dawn; in the attached photo the shutter speed was at 123 seconds.”
This is a photo of my friend Don Nelson Copyright Bob Dew

My First Major Advertising Film Shoot

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Approximately 20 years ago I was contracted by Saatchi and Saatchi to do a 20 minute short film on a multi-billion dollar corporation in California.

I had a relatively small budget of $350,000. My first job was to hire a production company. I also hired a co-director. My responsibility was producer and co-director. Everything was in order and three days before the shoot, the director was called out of town on another project. He was replaced by Charles Rudnick. Even though I had no relationship with Charles, but he was the consummate professional. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do hands on himself. You couldn’t get a better film maker in that particular situation. When the crew was scheduled to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the first director wanted to come back and I said “no way Charles is going to complete the film with me” and that’s exactly what we did. Thus a long, prosperous relationship started. Charles and I have a mutual respect for each other and we’ve worked on several projects over the years. Effectively we’ve become interchangeable. Okay, maybe I’m stretching it a little bit. In many ways, he’s drop dead fabulous.

Charles’ wife, Carmen, is the owner/chef of Tommaso’s, one of the finest & well-known Italian restaurants in San Francisco. On any given day, you can walk into Tommaso’s and see John Waters, Nicholas Cage, Francis Ford Coppola, or even my dear friend, Bill Shatner and his lovely wife Liz. I just received a phone call from Charles to tell me that his mother passed away. She was a very special lady. Forgot to mention…Charles’ father was a physicist at UCLA.

Charles sent me the above photo of his parents.

Isadore Rudnick (his dad)

Mildred Rudnick Obituary: Mildred Rudnick’s Obituary by the Los …