Not My First Rodeo

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 25, 2012

To All The Ships At Sea

One of the great advantages of being a photographer is travel. I’ve been blessed because over my career I’ve been around the world twice and am now working on the third time. Many of my assignments revolved around sports and action. With all the assignments and travel, I had never photographed a rodeo until last week.It was my first. While shooting, an official came over and was kind enough to give me insight on who, what, and where the action would be taking place and for how long. I looked at him and said you do understand this is not my first rodeo and then realized what I had said and immediately corrected myself. Utilizing this cowboy’s thirty years of doing rodeo helped me make a better photograph with less mistakes. This is what I call important pre-production. I make it my business to seek out the elder of the village whether it’s in Botswana, Palermo or Utah. Do your research and seek out whatever help you can get to make your work better. Keeping your mind open to learn and trying knew things is important and it’s what makes the world go round. The DiMaggio/Kalish Learning Center will be doing two professional rodeo workshops this year and they will be awesome.

©’12 Joe DiMaggio

©’12 Joe DiMaggio

©’12 Joe DiMaggio

©’12 Joe DiMaggio

Politics No – Respect Yes

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 18, 2012

One of the first things I remember being taught was that Americans live in the greatest country in the world. It is the longest standing Republic, and we are truly a free country. If any of you have done any traveling, you realize just how great a country we have. There are certain basic and fundamental rules; rules that never change, rules that are not open for discussion. Most of these rules are extremely simple and to the point. In a Democracy, the right to freedom of speech is imperative; it’s basic. But respect for fellow human beings should be part of the protocol, and respect for the President of the United States must be mandated. Whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent; whether you agree or disagree with policies, you must respect the office of the presidency. If you don’t like what’s happening, you should take your inalienable right to vote and vote the president out of office. In my opinion, Mr. Neil Munro was totally disrespectful to the President of the United States, and he should have his credentials removed from the White House press corps. To add insult to injury, Munro didn’t have the common sense or courtesy to apologize during or after the incident. I don’t expect anyone to live up to my standards, I will share this with you. The above photograph was sent to George W Bush after the events of September 11. I sent him a letter with the photograph, and I said to him in this letter that this photograph was for his personal archives, and that while I did not vote for him, I certainly respected him as the President of the United States. Next week, I will send president Obama my lady liberty photograph and tell him that I respect him and the office.

Adorama Street Fair June 10, 2012

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 12, 2012

When I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Adorama Street Fair obviously I was honored. Anytime I can give back to our community I take the opportunity to do so. Manhattan will always be my community. In a world where the dollar is golden the powers that be at Adorama are amazingly generous with their time and their location. They put a strong emphasis on photo education and considering how important photography is to us we take it seriously. The attendance appeared to be twice as large as last year with more vendors and great fun for the whole family and it was for a great cause. It does not get better than that. Well, maybe it does get better than that. On more than one occasion I’ve been quoted as saying “the best things in life are free.” I was standing looking at a printer and a someone approached me and said hi ,Joe DiMaggio? He said you probably don’t remember me but you helped me out on a shoot with Pelé when you were with Sports Illustrated. I backed up another foot to focus on his eyes. He was right I did not remember. I said what year was that and he said 1973. I said that was 39 years ago (keeping in mind I’m only 29 years old.) He reminded me I gave him some critical advice on how to photograph Pelé and I believe he said it changed his life. Unfortunately, it was a sad time for David. He lost his dad at a young age and lost his mom the month before. As he explained it he was orphaned at age 16. on his own and greatly appreciated my kind words. What he did and what he said was better than the equivalent of a check for $50,000. What he did was free and what he did in making me feel good was wonderful. It made my month. Brothers and Sister’s it’s all good. Thanks, David who as it turns out to be good friends with Kayla Lindquist from Sony. I’ve called my publisher and you’re going to be added to my new book, Visual Literacy. By the way he’s one hell of a photographer and here’s his website – http://www.davidseelig.com

DiMaggio Seelig Lindquist ©’12 J. Kalish

Adorama Program

Memorial Day Bike Race

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on June 1, 2012

To All The Ships At Sea

For the Last Three years my dear friend Brian has invited me to the oldest bicycle race in the US held in Somerville, N.J. on Memorial Day. Every year I promise to go and cancel because of this that or the other thing. This year I decided I was going to go and am extremely happy I went. Brian was not exaggerating it is an amazing experience. Hundreds of racers and thousands of spectators. Colorful is an understatement. Towards the end of the day, JoAnne and I ran into Dave and Linda. There may be a possibility next year of doing a Sports/Action semi-private workshop. Could be a lot of fun. It’s a great place to hone your eye hand coordination and to tweak your panning skills. Prepping for a rodeo shoot to be continued….

99.9% Keep Shooting

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 22, 2012

To All The Ships at Sea

Today is Tuesday. I’ve had three back to back days – 14 hours, 15 hours, 12 hours and today I’m doing a short segment on Ricky Boscorino for our Photo Retreat in July. Late last night or early this morning (I genuinely forget) I stumbled across an essay I did on Mountain Biking. One frame got my attention. When we pick up a camera, we all strive to make a new photo but 99% of the time it’s been made before. So we try to put a new spin on it. Guess what? 99% of the time someone’s already done that. It’s up to us though, to keep trying. That’s what we do. It’s all Good. Canon film camera 14mm lens 1/250 f/5.6 film Velvia 50

Old Glory – Not a Cliché

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 15, 2012

In reality many photos are considered clichés The Empire State Building, The Arc de Triomphe the Great Wall of China, Lady Liberty, a sunrise, and a sunset. All can be considered clichés. You would think for an American the American Flag would be a cliché but not to me. The American Flag has beautiful colors, great design, balance and when the wind blows right it has powerful stance. While on a run, one day, I came across this flag blowing and as Bob Dylan would say “Blowing in the Wind.” I spent one or two minutes observing it. I made a photograph that was intentionally high key with one of my favorite filters the Singh Ray high intensity. I designed the “V” for victory and had one of my assistants assemble it in Photoshop for me. For me it’s simple clean and elegant. Thank you Betsy Ross & Dr. Singh

F/1.8 and Be There

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 14, 2012

I’ve been working on a documentary film on Bobby Kyle for several years. Bobby is a world-class blues player and an extremely high energy person. The ability for a photographer to wait for peak action and not try to machine gun everything in my opinion is crucial. The photo of Bobby Kyle in the Blues Festival was shot with the 200mm 1.8 lens with an exposure of 1/2000th of a second 1.8 camera Canon 5D ISO 200 single shot.

Photo Books

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 9, 2012

I just received an e-mail blast from Adorama Pix referencing their photo books. Both my partner JoAnne and I have made ten different books that we use as teaching tools. Making the photograph is what it’s all about. In the world of digital we very rarely see our printed artwork. Adorama Pix offers us an opportunity to use our photographs and our creative sense of design and balance. To be quite frank it’s extremely satisfying to see the photograph on the printed page. I remember in one of my high school classes, I had a history teacher that would always refer to the Gutenberg Bible as being the first work of art printed on a printing press. Here we are, 562 years later and each one of us can print our own book to our own specifications any time we want. Yes, I was dragged into the digital world kicking and screaming and that is true but I’m like a 16-year-old kid because it’s just so magical and isn’t that what photography and film making is all about? It’s all about the magic.

We are plan on taking advantage of this new promotion and if you’d like to go to Adoramapix.com Sale

Offer Expires 5/23/12. Must use coupon code “PXGD1010” to receive discount (use “PXGD1010L” for leather).

Buses On Monday

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 7, 2012

©Joe DiMaggio

I am one of the luckiest people in the world I have been around the world twice and working on a third time, but as of last year I have never been to Malta. Last fall I had an opportunity to lead a photograhic workshop in Malta. The photograph above is of the British Leyland Bus and was a from the hip grab shot. Camera is a Sony A900, 24-70mm F2.8 Carl Zeiss Lens, ISO 160, shutter speed 1/800. It is the last Leyland bus on the island. I played with it in NiK Viveza 2 software, not HDR. Its a shade over the top but I like it. So next Monday be kind to a bus and make a photograph of it, or a car, a train, a cat, or a dog.

Ellis Island: 1979

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 29, 2012

It seems like I’m spending more and more time looking at my archives. It may have something to do with the fact that we are finishing up our next book, and the working title is “Visual Literacy.” Time Magazine sent me to Ellis Island in 1979 before the beginning of renovations. There was no service there so I went over on a police boat. This was before the days of cell phones, and for whatever reason I did not have an assistant. The original photograph was made with a Nikon F, a 35mm F2 lens, Ektachrome ASA 100. “I can say ASA, not ISO.” I scanned the original slide, recently for the book and decided to pull a little bit more out of it. More photos of Ellis Island to come.