It seems in the last ten to fifteen years that I have started a lot of dialogue with a similar phrase.  It’s something like: “The world is moving at light speed.” “I can’t imagine you could possibly do that.” or “I wish this technology was available three decades ago.”  That type of verbiage.  There aren’t too many things in this world that are extremely important to me.  There are the obvious: family, friends, and career, most everything that is free.  Something very precious happened to me Sunday morning.  I received a phone call from a very dear friend, Simon Jacob.  You could feel the warmth, happiness, and the smile on his face in his words.  He had just received four copies of my book “The Land of Milk and Honey”.  It’s not a book that will ever be published, but it’s something that is so important to JoAnne and me, as well as Simon and his family.  Who knew you could do something like this three decades ago?  It’s a gorgeous piece of art.  Not because of my or JoAnne’s photography, but because of the subject matter.  Subject hmmm… there’s a word I barely ever use.  I put this large, hardcover book together at AdoramaPix.  In yesteryear you could only see a book like this at Random House.  The quote from Simon is “It’s one of the most beautiful pieces of art I’ve ever seen.”  His mother and family were thrilled.  Even though, over my career, I’ve contributed to 800+ hardcover books, Simon’s beautiful words were better than any large paycheck I would have gleaned from any of my Fortune 500 clients.  It’s all about the free stuff:  family, friends, health, and happiness.  It’s also great to have someone like AdoramaPix to execute your photographic design and vision.  It’s all good.

JoeD

Copyright Joe DiMaggio

PostScript:

It sometimes amazes me, the things I forget.  Before Simon Jacob was a close friend, he was one of my students.  Simon Jacob helped me make the move to digital.

Also, you may view the book on AdoramaPix’s web page.

Hi Eric & Your Magnificent Crew

In many ways I’m just like everybody else. I’ve accepted mediocrity very slowly. I’m old enough to remember when a camera had a thousand machine parts in it made of brass, nickel, aluminum, steel and real leather.  Slowly but surely I became accepting to the fact that anything from chairs to automobiles to tripods would just become garbage in a short period of time. I know you’ve probably heard it from hundreds if not thousands of your customers, but the quality of your products makes me proud of being an American again.  Your quality in my opinion could not be better. If there is going to be a failure it will be in the operator, not in your equipment.  Thanks for all the help you’re giving me and my students.  I genuinely appreciate it.

As soon as I can put the gear to work in a non teaching application I will send you some footage.

Thanks

Joe DiMaggio

©Joe DiMaggio

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Joe,  all I can say is wow and thank you!  This might be the kindest and assuring email I have ever received.  We are truly trying to do the USA brand proud.  It is not always easy but there are many hardworking talented Americans that are willing to do anything to make sure what goes out the door is the very best.  Many of them work for Kessler. I have a great team.  Again thank you for letting you know you see our heart in our product.  This made my day.   If there ever is a problem we will be here to fix it for you.

Eric Kessler
www.kesslercrane.com
www.kesslerU.com

Copyright Joe DiMaggio MMXII

As a photographer, you are constantly looking up, down, left, right, scanning the horizon line, and looking for photographs millimeters from your nose.  That’s what we all do.  One hundred photographers could walk down one hundred feet of New York City or Paris and if each one was limited to only three photographs, there’s a good possibility that none would be identical.  That’s what makes photography so great.  It’s an extremely personal expression of everything that you are as a human being.  It is definitely intriguing.

While walking around the meat-packing district one block from one of my favorite restaurants, Pastis, I noticed several blue boards with “Post No Bills” on them.  I took three frames and moved on.  I then discovered a photo within a photo.  If you allow the camera to expose for the background, the sunset, the foreground will be underexposed.  If you expose for the foreground, the background will be blown out.  Your eye and brain compensate for the foreground and the background so you are able to see the complete scene.  For you to actually make that happen on a piece of film… oops… on a piece of digital material, you have to make some sort of adjustment.  I always try to take the, simple, easy, straightforward way of making that happen.  In this case by turning on the camera flash, reducing it by 1 and 1/3 stops I have balanced the foreground and the background.  Very simple, very straightforward.  It’s up to you as the photographer to make the final photograph the way you want it to be represented.

Copyright Joe DiMaggio MMXII

Copyright Joe DiMaggio MMXII

Copyright Joe DiMaggio MMXII

I walked into my private office in the learning center (I very rarely go in there) and there sitting on my desk was this boxing glove that
Angelo was kind enough to give me.  The inscription read “To Joe, Keep Punching”.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  All of a sudden I realized one of the most beautiful people in the world has left us.  Angelo I’ll make you a promise.   I’ll keep punching until the last ten seconds of the last round.  Thank you, JoeD.

Chinese New Year.  It gets better every year.  One of the greatest things about mentoring other photographers is actually to see their photographs getting better.  It is extremely satisfying.  My mentors made it clear that I had an obligation to share their knowledge and experience which is part of my life experience.  Wow, it just gets better.  Thank you for the kind words.  Cant wait to see a few more photos.    I think everybody did a great job!

“I had an awesome time beyond words!!! My children were envious! I Thank you so much for the “wisdom” and if i may say, all the practical advice you provided is so much appreciated. Thank Dylan as well for his time shared and support to us!

I’m really looking forward to more opportunities to be a part of you workshops in the future, God-willing.”
~Marie-Vic Palu-Ay

“Thank you, so very much, for taking the time out of your precious weekend to share your knowledge, stories and laughter with me.  I had such an experience.  I can’t say enough about the day, the fun or the wonderful people I met.  I was and am so intimidated by the talent that surrounded me, I am in awe of you all!!

I’m sure I’m not the first to say… I walked away from this workshop seeing the ‘light’ and thank you for pointing it out to me!!  One can read and read and read about it, but until it ‘clicks’ it means nothing.  Joe – the moment you showed me, it clicked, and from that moment forward, I saw everything differently, you have no idea the world you opened up to me.  Thank you.”
~Barbara Schweighauser

“Thanks for a wonderful workshop.

I also started a blog: http://photoexperimental.com/
Also, here is my dad’s site (he’s in Calgary right now looking for wolves) : http://ericsambol.com/“
~Drew Sambol

“Joe, had a great time Sunday.  Here are a few of my pics. Hope this doesn’t blow up your server!

Hope to make it to Coney Island in June.” 

~Steve Ellis

Copyright Joe DiMaggio

When we booked this years Chinese New Year photographic workshop, I was happy yet tentative.  The New Years celebration in New York is only outdone by San Francisco and of course Beijing.  This year, we had a magnificent group of students.  All young, all bright, all driven to make several fine photographs.  And the year of the dragon was really good to us.  Spring type weather, bright sun, deep shade, great front and back-light photos, and the largest crown I’ve seen in many years.  That’s the good news and the bad news.  Extremely difficult to negotiate the streets, but we marched around like we belonged there (and of course we did).  It was a great day.  It ended with some hot tea and great round-table discussion.  I keep telling you: I’m a lucky guy.  Will follow-up with additional photography in the next few days.

Gleason’s Workshop March 25th.  Another very special day!  Oh, by the by, Chinese New Year is our anniversary, every year.

David Morel.  Flexible, always looking, never satisfied.  I first met David on one of my pop-photo mentor series.  We exchanged emails and David was kind enough to help me with some IT work.  Over the years, we became good friends.  What I love about David is that he’s a big kid, in the same way I’m a big kid.  Constantly looking, and wanting to explore whats not there.  I take my beret off to David.  Please see some of his work .  It’s fun when you cast the hypo on the water and it comes back as a print.

Artist Statement:

I am a photographer with a split personality. The split began when I started stretching my pre-conceived concept of a “good” photograph. Prior to that, I was a chronicler of what I saw, a recorder of images, who did not interpret the image before me.  I liked to experiment with new techniques and subjects, but I was mimicking what I had seen, heard, or read from others. Then ten years ago I became friends with a photographer named Joe DiMaggio who introduced me to motion and blur in images. Despite the fact that initial feedback from my peers was less than positive, I continued to explore this new form of expression. For the first time I began to take photos that were worthwhile to me simply because I liked them. I began creating for myself, revealing the quixotic side to my personality through the photos I produced.

Click on the photo to be taken to Davids Home Page.

Some of the images I am submitting are from a series I have created over the last few years called “Retail Therapy.”  I capture images of displays and goods for sale in their “natural habitat” — farmers’ markets and upscale boutiques and big box retail stores. Typically, the images are colorful and bold with interesting patterns dissolving into intriguing blurs. Rarely is it obvious that they were shot in stores. My subjects reflect the value of the creative work of someone—a craftsman, artist or assembly line worker—who dedicated their energy to their manufacture. I have juxtaposed these photos with similar images from nature and architecture shot from angles that emphasize patterns and bright color or startling contrast. The contrasts and similarities between the natural and manmade world give my work an essence that, like my own personality, may seem disjointed or “split” but that makes a certain sense to me as an artist.

In the past year or so, I have been encouraged to think more about what, how, and why I am shooting. I recently began a year-long project of participating in photography competitions and blogging about the experience. I am hoping the writing about the images I shot and submitted and the feedback from the competitions will help me better develop my own artistic vision.

I am very excited about the chance to have a portfolio review by the South Light Salon. They are a group of photographers whose work I admire. I envy the growth I have seen in their art over the last few years and would love to see similar growth in my own work someday.