© 2012 Joe DiMaggio
I like every American lost over 3,000 brothers and sisters. One of them was a dear friend. His life was no more or less important than the others. His memory is with me always.
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/48446120″>America Presentation by Joe DiMaggio song by Celine Dion</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/dimaggiokalish”>JOE DIMAGGIO/JOANNE KALISH</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
© Joe DiMaggio
My best friend, my best man, my son’s Godfather. Hope you’re doing well, and I hope you’re in a great place.
© Joe DiMaggio
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
© Barbara Lawrence
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of taking a small, elite group of photographers to the rodeo for a sports and action workshop, which always involves environmental portraits. It started in the learning center, and after an hour of multimedia shows we went off to the ranch, and the weather was gorgeous. Then along came Murphy. The rain was so hard, they postponed the event by an hour and 15 minutes. While students were hiding in my automobile, I decided to put them in one of the barns. Barbara made this wonderful photograph while waiting for the rain to stop. For me, watching another photographer constantly looking and communicating with, in this case the cowboys, the wranglers, the owners, etc, is great. And the icing on the cake is one fine photograph. Here’s an email that I received from Barbara;
“I had a great time and also have many dreadful images. Interesting how the color of the light changed as the riders moved around the ring.
I think that my favorite was the man in the barn doorway. I have several with wonderful light. These are almost untouched, except for black and white in Lightroom”
© Joe DiMaggio
I remember the first day that I photographed Smokin’ Joe Frazier; March 8 1971. Frazier was the heavyweight champion of the world, fighting the great Muhammad Ali (off a three year hiatus from boxing). To say the least, it was considered the fight of the century, with Frank Sinatra shooting ringside for Life Magazine. I’ve been known to say “The next time I’m in Vegas, I’m gonna jump onstage and grab a microphone—not”. over the years, Frazier and I became casual acquaintances. Joe was a true gentleman. There are very few people that ever had a bad word to say about Joe. I asked him if he would be kind enough to allow me to interview him for my documentary In This Corner, and he agreed. We met at the iconic Gleason’s Gym. Honesty is the best policy, and as far as the interview went it was two warriors talking about the good old days, and from that we talked about the future of boxing in the new decade. The interview became very personal, and that is not the proper way a documentary interview should go. I looked at it yesterday and a tear came to my eye. When I get my head put on straight, I’ll do a second and a third blog with some action photography. Yes, I know this should have been done November of last year, but it took me that long to actually find the images I was looking for. So much for my filing system. To all the ships at sea, some photography, for that matter all photography, is timeless. On that note, go out and make some great photos. Joe D.
© Joe DiMaggio
© Joe DiMaggio
© Joe DiMaggio
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.
© Joe DiMaggio
© 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
© 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
© 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://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
© 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
© JoAnne Kalish
Joe DiMaggio 