14 Wall Street

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 9, 2013

To all the ships at sea,

No rhyme, no reason, a little bit of fun. 16-35mm lens, f16 at 2/8, LED light, flat day, 5D Mark 3. No rhyme, no reason; I just like the photo.

It’s All Good

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 23, 2013

Hi to All the Ships at Sea,

Let’s see if I got this right-I don’t like Photoshop, right? Right. I don’t like software where you can manipulate images…right? Right. I believe everything should be done in the camera…right? Right. Never crop, right? Right. Less is more, right? Right. Digital will be just like 8-tracks, it’ll never last. So let’s check out the reality, I guess it’s impossible to be right all the time.

The photograph of this young lady catching a cod-fish off the coast of Prince Edward Island, up until today, was flat, muddy, indistinguishable and almost two stops under. There’s a technical term in photography for a photo like this…it’s blank blank blank blank. Well through a little bit of work in Photoshop and NIK software it came alive. The young lady’s name is JoAnne Kalish.

All the Best,

Joe D

You can now follow me on Twitter @dimaggio_photo
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Adorama Learning Center

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).

Peak Action

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 9, 2012

©Joe DiMaggio

I had an opportunity to teach at the University of Arizona. It afforded me time in the desert, in the dead of winter to photograph some interesting characters. Here’s a young man taking a short cut. I had no idea he was going to do this. The lesson of the day is to make sure your camera is ready to go. Pre-select shutter speed, aperture, color balance, ISO, type of metering, and exposure compensation. The next part of the equation would be experience and some would say luck, I believe you make your own luck. This photo was taken with a 35 mm camera, a 100mm Macro lens, ISO 50, shutter speed 1/500 f/4, single exposure.

PRE-PRODUCTION, EXPERIENCE, EXECUTION

20×30 Adoramapix

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 2, 2012

Over the years I’ve had two major printers. One was Par Excellence in Shreveport Louisiana, the other was Ken Leiberman in New York. There is no doubt Ken was and still is a great printer. If you’re going to have a show at MOMA, or a San Francisco gallery, he may be your choice. Par Excellence is unfortunately out of business. My partner and best friend JoAnne Kalish is a master printer “and one hell of a great photographer,” she produces some impeccable “Giclee” prints to die for. As great as they are they just are not a photographic process per se. Without telling JoAnne, I made 60-20×30’s, and 12-16×20’s. They are awesome and if you would like to come by our Learning Center to look at them, make an appointment and I will gladly show them to you. The key is – the blacks are black, the white are white, and the skin tone is dead on, it does not get any better then that. Info on this photo is, Shutter Speed-1/10 second, Lens-100 mm macro, ISO speed-50 and it was taken on the new Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod 190cxpro3.

Peter of Dynalite

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on March 13, 2012

©Joe DiMaggio

When I think of the name Peter Poremba, I think light. For most of Peter’s adult life, he has been involved in perfecting electronic flash and photo-education. He is head and shoulders above all of his competitors. An extremely creative business person and always thinking out-of-the-box. His clientele always comes first. He’s also a very nice guy, has a beautiful wife and a gorgeous daughter. It doesn’t get better than that. While Peter and I were at a design meeting at Sartek with Carl Saieva, I was explaining mixed-light and how I utilize it in my photography. I did a quick and dirty portrait of Peter, which is the lead shot of this blog. It was shot with an 85mm lens, but in actuality it was done with a 11mm to 16mm zoom. I just wanted to have a little fun with the crop. Hopefully there’s a little bit to learn about perspective. I’m certainly not saying you should throw away your portrait lens! But in a pinch, one camera, one lens, two batteries, two cards, and a little imagination… Oh, did I forgot the light? The most important thing! On our trip back, we made it through Suffolk, Nassau County, and Queens in light-speed. Unbeknownst to us, we got three and a half miles from the GWB and there was an overturned vehicle and three trucks with three workmen drinking their coffee and smoking cigarettes while working on the side of the road. Peter would tell you it took 59 minutes, I would tell you it took an eternity. Then again, I’m a little older than Peter. Time is very valuable. Joe D signing off!

Dynalite’s Website

©Joe DiMaggio

The Day The Photographic Earth Stood Still

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 23, 2012

The day the Photographic earth stood still one second later went into light speed. I had a dual assignment to photograph Joe Paterno in 2002 for Time Magazine and my agent who had clients in Europe and Asia. We broke out all the big guns total 7 cameras. Both JoAnne and I were the prime shooters, 2 assistants and one security PA. Started at approximately 6AM shot all pre-game ceremony (lots of partying young and old) When we actually got down to game time the prime lenses were 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4 and 35-350mm. We did the post game and turned the film over to our assistant who was getting ready to transmit a few frames before we returned to the studio. Total 7 cameras, 5 film cameras 4 of which were never loaded. The one loaded had 28 frames, the two digital there were approximately 1,000 frames. Without knowing it the third reincarnation of DiMaggio now as a digital shooter was born. The story was on Joe Paterno and he died yesterday from complications from Lung Cancer age 85. I will not comment on his dismissal from Penn State. Our son Dylan spent 4 years there and any communications I had with the administration was absolutely miserable. Oops I said I would not comment. Whatever Paterno’s sins were he was one hell of a football coach. RIP Joe I hope things are get better on the other side.

©Joe DiMaggio

©JoAnne Kalish

Nik Software

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 2, 2012

Copyright 2011 Joe DiMaggio

Back in the day when I shot Leica, and used TriX and modified my carriers so you can print absolutely the whole negative with no cropping everything had to be done in camera. I studied the zone system for years and effectively was unable to use it because I stopped shooting 4×5. I one time watched Gene Smith, spend three hours making one 8×10. On my best day in the darkroom my best print on a scale of 1-10 would be a 2.25. I did better with Cibachrome. I was able to print Cibachrome and do a reasonable job. When the world threw me a huge curve ball and digital photography became the answer to everything, I was caught with my proverbial down because I thought I was an elitist there was no way I would go digital. I held out as long as I could and like a reformed alcoholic, I scream the praises of digital today. On or about the same time there was photoshop 1 or 2 Anybody who knows me knows I have the utmost respect for the Adobe programs but because of the way I shoot and the number of hours I work, I was not going to attempt to become proficient with photoshop. Maybe it’s a cop-out but I don’t think so. I have interns and assistants that are extremely capable in the program. I tell most of the students that 99% are only cleaned. I very rarely attempt to make major changes in my images. I go back to the old school.

Well, now I’m ready to move into the last part of my career as a fine art photographer, a filmmaker and director and Nik comes along and makes me crazy. I finally got the programs installed and decided to play with one digital scan. That was at 8:30 in the evening. By 3:30 in the morning I had tested all of the software and was starting to bleed from my eyes. While bleeding I had a huge smile smile on my face. I was like 14 all over again – my first day in a darkroom. These programs are absolutely awesome. They are simple, straight forward and easy to use and even an idiot like me can make them work. I don’t impress easy but I’m impressed.

Thanks

Joe DiMaggio

All Photos ©2011 Joe DiMaggio All Rights Reserved

Copyright Joe DiMaggio

Copyright Joe DiMaggio