Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Many of my friends know I have had a love affair with film for the last thirty plus years. Twenty years ago, I walked into a cocktail party with approximately 150 people. Out of the 150 people I could only see one; just one. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I worked my way through the crowd of martinis, and white wine to get to a gentleman who was drinking a cup of coffee; two creams, two sugars. His name is Hugh Brodie. If you don’t know the name you may know the music. His cousin was Ella Fitzgerald. He was brought up in the south with a saxophone in one hand a painter’s brush in the other. Half Cherokee and half African American; he’s got to be cool. Approximately six or seven years ago, my son Dylan did a short film on Brodie which came in first place in the Black Bear Film Festival. It actually opened the Black Bear Film Festival. Subsequently, Dylan and I have been collaborating on a feature film. The working title is “The Life and Times of Hugh Brodie.” Another possible title is “The Black Cowboy.” Many people have complimented me on some of my photographs of Brodie and I try to explain to them that I have very little to do with the particular photograph. Brodie is so magnificent, so beautiful, so honest, straightforward and sincere. It’s F8 and show up. Okay maybe it’s F2.8 and show up. We are now in the process of cutting and scoring the film. The great editor Victor Goretsky will be doing the editing and the scoring will obviously be Hugh Brodie. We’re looking forward to having it wrap somewhere in the fall of 2010 maybe earlier. Photo ©Joe DiMaggio

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on
Sunday, December 13, 2009


© Joe DiMaggio
I drove two hours up North to visit an old friend. Not to beat up a cliché but you’ve heard “in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Well my friend was in the wrong place at the wrong time
to the tenth degree and it’s going to cost him 13 years out of his life in a small cell. We talked for two and a half hours. He admitted his mistakes and errors in judgment and I looked at him and said to myself, “but for the sake of God go I.” I cried three times, gave him a hug and a kiss, and drove home in an ice storm. Now you ask yourself a question; what the hell does this have
to do with photography? The images are burned in my mind, not on the compact flash card. I will take that experience and the burned images and use them in another place at another time and have a better understanding on what I’m photographing and why.

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on
Saturday, December 12, 2009


I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world. I have such great friends. Most of them are artists, musicians, writers, poets, sculptures, fisherman, boxers, trainers, athletes; my God it doesn’t get better than that. Somewhere around 1970 something my dear friend Dennis Wheeler invited me to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) to look at some of his pieces in the permanent collection. Suffice to say he is a world class artist. Everything he does is exciting and alive and quite different. He constantly challenges himself to go places that he hasn’t been before with his art. I did a clandestine interview with Dennis; set up my 7D, my Sennheiser microphone, and we talked about art. Dennis is not only a great artist but he is a great art historian. What makes Dennis special is that he can appreciate all different types of art. I am proud to have collaborated with Dennis on several single and multi-dimensional pieces of art. If you’re ever in upstate New York visit Dennis’ Gallery;

Clearfield Farm Gallery/Studio

172 West End Road, Hillsdale, NY 12529

tel: 518-325-7053; email: dfwheels@taconic.net

Oh, by the way; Please call ahead!







Photos © ’09 Joe DiMaggio

We All Fell Hard When We Lost Budd

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

It’s difficult for me to get with the program. The program changes monthly, or daily, or minute by minute. Somewhere in the 1970’s I had an assignment to photograph a man by the name of Budd Schulberg, one of the greatest writers who ever lived and one hell of a great guy. As famous and as infamous as Budd was, to sit and have a drink with a man who had a lot of drinks with F. Scott Fitzgerald back in the day is beyond cool. He let me have a small glimpse into his world, and for that I am extremely grateful. I know it’s a cliché, but they don’t make them like that anymore.

Budd Schulberg (March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy-award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the Crowd. Budd had a very special way of motivating people. We talked about a boxing documentary in the late 70’s, and I took his advice. Thank you Budd, you will be missed.



©Joe DiMaggio

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on



Every person’s life is marked with milestones. One of my milestones at age 18 was photographing a folk group by the name of Peter, Paul, and Mary. It was one of their early performances. I was totally blown away by the music and mesmerized by Mary Travers. She was a blonde with a beautiful frame, beautiful hair, and a great voice. It just doesn’t get better than that at age 18. On September 16, 2009 the world lost one of the most beautiful people that God put on this planet. I loved her then, and I love her today. All of my original negatives are somewhere in photo limbo. I have been looking for them for a long time. Eventually, I will find them. I am posting this particular photo, which was an original black and white and then made into an orthochromatic print on a textured matt paper which I painted over a very long time ago. The original black and white hung over Mary’s couch for many years. Hopefully, sometime in the near future, I will do another tribute to Mary when I find my original negatives.
© Joe DiMaggio

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

All Photos © Joe DiMaggio


There is no doubt in my mind I am one of the luckiest photographers in the world; for that matter, I am probably one of the luckiest people in the world. As a contributing photographer for Sports Illustrated for several decades, I’ve had an opportunity to photograph Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, and my god the list just goes on and on and on. Four years ago I started to fulfill a dream of doing a full-length boxing documentary. The name of that documentary is “In This Corner.” It features five protagonists. The main protagonist is Yuri Foreman. Foreman was born in Belle rousse, moved to Israel, and he now resides in Brooklyn. All of the boxers, plus hundreds more that I did not name, are all great in their own right. Yuri Foreman out of all of them is the hardest working; most dedicated human being I have ever met. He has fought his way from absolute poverty to last Saturday night, doing something that very few people believed he could actually do. He won the WBA Junior Middle Weight Championship of the world (154). All the odds were against him. Many of the definitive experts believed that he had no chance, but in spite of the odds, in spite of the nay-sayers, he prevailed. They now call him, “the lion from Zion.” I emailed Yuri congratulations. He was gracious enough to email me back “Joe we did it!” I wrote him back and said, “No, Yuri. You did it. You did it alone. It takes an extremely special person to step through those ropes and put it all on the line. Very few have the courage to do it and fewer yet become champion of the world.” I am proud to be called a friend of Yuri Foreman.

We All Fell Hard When We Lost Budd

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

 

 It’s difficult for me to get with the program. The program changes monthly, or daily, or minute by minute. Somewhere in the 1970’s I had an assignment to photograph a man by the name of Budd Schulberg, one of the greatest writers who ever lived and one hell of a great guy. As famous and as infamous as Budd was, to sit and have a drink with a man who had a lot of drinks with F. Scott Fitzgerald back in the day is beyond cool. He let me have a small glimpse into his world, and for that I am extremely grateful. I know it’s a cliché, but they don’t make them like that anymore.

Budd Schulberg (March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy-award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the Crowd. Budd had a very special way of motivating people. We talked about a boxing documentary in the late 70’s, and I took his advice. Thank you Budd, you will be missed.

 

©Joe DiMaggio