I think the first time I heard the words Arthur Mercante, my dad was telling me a story about Arthur’s volunteering and helping out with the PAL back in the day. The first time I remember seeing him was at the Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson fight. There is no way in the world I would call Arthur a dear friend of mine but what I can say is that he was an extremely special person. He was a true gentleman- never heard a bad word out of his mouth and never heard a bad word about him. He’s one of the few referees that his honesty and sincerity were never in question. He had a love affair with boxing and he always made sure he took care of the boxer to minimize any possible damage. Even though we didn’t talk very often, there would always be a little smile of acknowledgment. I guess I should say that the boxing world has lost a great statesman, but what I would rather say that the world has lost one beautiful gentleman.
Baker 17 (New York Presbyterian Hospital Cornell University)
What may be considered standard operating procedure for some people, other people may interpret it as great service, great care, and great concern. Here we are, it’s 2010, the world is moving at light speed and real down to earth people genuinely care about the health and well-being of a fellow human being.
This blog thing is pretty new to me and I guess if you go back and check several of them you’ll find words like, “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” It’s not that I can’t think of other words to say but I am the luckiest guy in the world. The doctors, assistants, people who did physical therapy, everyone was beyond great. They care. I wasn’t a number, I wasn’t a paying customer, they genuinely cared about my health. They all worked around the clock to help me- pretty amazing. In the same vein, they worked me extremely hard- no pain no gain. And for that, I’ll always be in their debt.
They said that I was 2 weeks ahead of schedule as far as rehab is concerned. I’d like to think I’m motivated but without a good kick in the ass and a smile from these people, I don’t think I would have succeeded as well as I have.
Hugs and kisses to everyone on Baker 17. They’re in my prayers. If you ever have to go for rehab, that’s the place to go.
I guess by now you know that I have two brand new hip replacements. Last but not least, I became a member of the “Troublemakers” on Baker 17 and we had a great field trip to the Met. Photos to follow.
My Surgeon, Dr. Boettner
Approximately 100 days ago I had the opportunity to meet with a great Doctor by the name of Dr. Sama who is affiliated with the Hospital for Special Surgery. He put me through a series of tests and recommended that I meet with fellow colleague, Dr.Boettner. He explained that Dr. Boettner was a world class hip surgeon and that he could help me.
A month later, Dr. Boettner put me through another rigorous amount of tests. At the end of the week, we met and he asked me a couple questions. He asked me if I wanted to sit on a couch and watch television or lay in a hammock for the rest of my life; I said no to both. He said, “OK, then would you like to climb a mountain?” and I said no. He was surprised and I told him that I wanted to climb ten mountains. He said, “I really like you, you’ve convinced me we’re going to do a bilateral hip surgery at the same time. You’re tough enough, so we’re going to do it”.
That was a month ago, and this past Thursday, was when I had the surgery done. For the first time in a long long time, I had no pain in my knees, pelvis, or ankles. I have pain but only from the incision and from lying flat on my back. We’re now starting intense therapy and every day it’s getting better.
Dr. Boettner came in this morning, with a smile on his face and said that I was making a miraculous recovery. I told him that I should have come to see him three years ago but didn’t, because I was told that the pain I was having, was probably from the latter stages of Lyme’s disease and I had also attributed it to ongoing problems I had with my back for many years.
By the way, I found the Hospital for Special Surgery to be a truly a world class facility and I’m thankful that I was able to come here. I’d like to thank every member of the staff that bent over backwards to make my stay comfortable and thank you Dr. Boettner. I’ve included a bit of information below about Dr. Boettner.
“Dr. Friedrich Boettner was born in Germany, he studied at the top international centers for his specialty, completing fellowships in four sub-areas, as well as additional training in pelvic osteotomies and open hip dislocation with surgeons in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. He has authored an orthopedic textbook, as well as numerous scientific publications. He is awarded for Travelling Fellowship, American Orthopaedic Association OrthoBiotech OREF Award for Excellence in Blood Management.”
Just A Thought
When you come to the edge of all the light
you know and are about to step off into
the darkness of the unknown, faith is
knowing one of two things will happen;
there will be something solid to stand on…
…or you will learn to fly.
Another Great Group
©JoAnne Kalish
Under normal circumstances, I never worry about a lecture or giving a workshop. I think it comes pretty natural to me. The level of pain was off the chart but I had agreed to do this workshop a year ago and I come from a school of “if you give your word, you better deliver the goods”. Dylan, who is usually much tougher than I am and tends to be not only hard on me but hard on himself and doesn’t give a whole lot of compliments, said it was a great workshop. And you know what? He was right. Not because of what I did, but because of the participants. You guys. You made it great. Great questions. I learned a lot from you and you know what, you made the pain bearable. I was interviewed today for a magazine article and I started by saying that I am the luckiest guy in the world. It’s not only my friends and family and my photography but it’s because of people like you who make it worthwhile, and I’d like to thank you. And while I’m at it I’d like to thank JoAnne Kalish for coming out of a warm bed at 3:45A.M. and Dylan and of course Monica; she’s the power behind the throne, she works extremely hard and never fails to get the job done. Keep Shooting.
Kayaking With Murphy
©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. Next workshop is Brooklyn Bridge in Gleason’s on April 25, 2010.
Joe D
©Joe DiMaggio
A Lovely Surprise
Well, a very big birthday just passed. I guess when you look at it, they’re all pretty big, and you know how I love to beat up clichés. There’s one that goes like this I think, “One door closes and another opens”. Well, maybe this is a good example: I just lost two assistants. Thats not good. But what’s great is that I have a brand new assistant that is considerably better than the two that I lost and her name is Moriah. So i guess the cliché works again. And what do you know that on my birthday that after having 7000 other assistants over the years, that lovely Moriah shows up with her equally lovely mother with a beautiful birthday cake and wished me a happy birthday. My god, it doesn’t get any better than that. So I’d like that thank Moriah and her mom for an extremely delicious, outstanding, beautiful cake. And I’d like to see that if they ever remotely think of it again, if they could make it without sugar and calories. Oh forget that. Who am I kidding. It’s all Good, Joe D
If You Have Nothing Good To Say…
Photo ©Ann Raine
My best friend, life partner, and one of the finest photographers I know tries to remind me that in the world of blazing speed and internet no one really knows how old you are and you don’t have to remind them. Never let it be said that I sometimes don’t listen to advice.
I was brought up in the West Village on Carmine Street. You were taught early in life, if you didn’t have anything good to say, keep your mouth shut. There’s a whole lot of truth to that, so what I’m about to say is not designed to hurt anybody or any company. I’m just trying to relate the old days with the new days. In the beginning of my career I shot with Leicas and Nikons. For all intensive purposes I shot Nikon from 1968 to 1984. In 1984, I signed a contract with the IOC and as part of that contract I had to shoot Canon and Fuji film, rather than Nikon and Kodak. The people at Nikon were the best; totally dedicated, great products, great service, great everything. Okay, I’m going on; let’s cut to the chase… A student of ours, Ann Raine, is a Nikon shooter. She purchased the NEW Nikon D3s, for the cost of a used Volkswagen. She had her new camera mounted on a tripod and it had a minor fall onto the carpet and two screws fell, out of the flash hot shoe mount. She returned it to Nikon and they took over a month to repair it and the repair bill was $500. I guess what I’m trying to say is I better listen to what my mother and father taught me and shut up. Where have you gone Dominick Bastello? (he headed the repair department at Nikon & was a wonderful human being, a very good black & white photographer who also taught me a lot about life and my photography.) I miss you
Ann Raine the Great
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!”
– Ann Raine
My View From the Corner By Angelo Dundee
In a world that’s filled with large egos, split second decisions, people who don’t listen at all you have the exact opposite with Angie Dundee. There’s never a been a bad word spoken about Angie and the reason is he’s genuine, the best and only sees the good in people. In the middle of a hellish Nor’easter Dylan and I made our way to Foxwood’s and Angie was gracious enough along with his business manager Mark Grismer, to give us a history of Boxing through his eyes. I learned more about boxing, in two hours then I did in the last 30 years.
Angie and I go back a long way, I did stories on him for Sport Magazine, Inside Sports, and The New York Times. He was amazing then and he’s still amazing. At the end of the interview I asked him about Yuri Foreman. He said you got to like Yuri, because he’s, “white, polite, contrite and he can fight.”
Joe DiMaggio 
