Stan The Man

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on February 28, 2024

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

DUMBO AM-PM

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 25, 2013

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

Coming to Adorama TV

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on July 10, 2012

To all the ships at sea; during my career at Sports Illustrated, I believe I only shot 5 baseball games; 3 in the world series, and 2 in the playoffs. Oops, I forgot about Sport Magazine; 2 for them on a cover of Carl Yastrzemski. I recently had an opportunity to put together a combination advanced photographic workshop on sport and action photography, and a short film for Adorama TV. I called in some favors from major league baseball, which allowed me to bring my crew in for a triple A game between the Iron Pigs and the SW Yankees. It was a great evening. Next month you will be able to see the video on Adorama TV. The above photograph was taken by Dylan: 300mm 2.8 lens, Canon 7D with battery grip, Getso monopod, stadium mercury vapor lights, exposure 1/1000 of a second at 2.8 with an ISO of 3200. Summer’s here, what a great excuse to go make some photos. So get some batteries, get some flash cards, or a roll of Tri-x, and make some photos. Joe D.

Peak Action

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 9, 2012

©Joe DiMaggio

I had an opportunity to teach at the University of Arizona. It afforded me time in the desert, in the dead of winter to photograph some interesting characters. Here’s a young man taking a short cut. I had no idea he was going to do this. The lesson of the day is to make sure your camera is ready to go. Pre-select shutter speed, aperture, color balance, ISO, type of metering, and exposure compensation. The next part of the equation would be experience and some would say luck, I believe you make your own luck. This photo was taken with a 35 mm camera, a 100mm Macro lens, ISO 50, shutter speed 1/500 f/4, single exposure.

PRE-PRODUCTION, EXPERIENCE, EXECUTION

Nik Software

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 2, 2012

Copyright 2011 Joe DiMaggio

Back in the day when I shot Leica, and used TriX and modified my carriers so you can print absolutely the whole negative with no cropping everything had to be done in camera. I studied the zone system for years and effectively was unable to use it because I stopped shooting 4×5. I one time watched Gene Smith, spend three hours making one 8×10. On my best day in the darkroom my best print on a scale of 1-10 would be a 2.25. I did better with Cibachrome. I was able to print Cibachrome and do a reasonable job. When the world threw me a huge curve ball and digital photography became the answer to everything, I was caught with my proverbial down because I thought I was an elitist there was no way I would go digital. I held out as long as I could and like a reformed alcoholic, I scream the praises of digital today. On or about the same time there was photoshop 1 or 2 Anybody who knows me knows I have the utmost respect for the Adobe programs but because of the way I shoot and the number of hours I work, I was not going to attempt to become proficient with photoshop. Maybe it’s a cop-out but I don’t think so. I have interns and assistants that are extremely capable in the program. I tell most of the students that 99% are only cleaned. I very rarely attempt to make major changes in my images. I go back to the old school.

Well, now I’m ready to move into the last part of my career as a fine art photographer, a filmmaker and director and Nik comes along and makes me crazy. I finally got the programs installed and decided to play with one digital scan. That was at 8:30 in the evening. By 3:30 in the morning I had tested all of the software and was starting to bleed from my eyes. While bleeding I had a huge smile smile on my face. I was like 14 all over again – my first day in a darkroom. These programs are absolutely awesome. They are simple, straight forward and easy to use and even an idiot like me can make them work. I don’t impress easy but I’m impressed.

Thanks

Joe DiMaggio

All Photos ©2011 Joe DiMaggio All Rights Reserved

Copyright Joe DiMaggio

Copyright Joe DiMaggio