Tag Archives: photographers

Jono Korchin

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Approximately a half century ago, I met a young man from Berkley by the name of Jono Korchin.  He was a bright tough in-your-face kind of guy.  At the time the two most important things in his life were photography and music.  I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anything in music he didn’t know – in my opinion not so much in photography.  He was okay but needed a little work.  Because he was based in the San Francisco area and I was based in the New York area we only got together several times a year.  Over a couple years we became close friends. To be honest I’m not the easiest going person in the world but JK always found a way of getting to my better side.© Jo

I flew out to the coast in the early 80’s & Jono picked me up in a Mercedes and there was this weird box near the dashboard.  He put in an address on Cedar Alley and this magic box took us right there – the back way.  Cedar Alley was a half city block long & my close friend Mike Phillips had a studio/home there.  When I asked Jono what just happened he explained he was working on the beginning of GPS.  Wow!  To say that Jono was ahead of most of us, as the truth be known he may have been 20 or 30 years ahead of most of us.  He had a concept for music where people could procure one song at a time.  He got an appointment with Apple and met with the CEO Gil Amelio.  They listened but rejected the concept of the one dollar song.  Yet, 3-4 years later they came out with IMusic.  Strangely enough you could buy a song for a dollar.  Hmm…wonder where they got the idea.  Considering I was born in Greenwich Village after the end of WWII there was a coffee shop or two on every block where there was poetry, music, off broadway plays etc.   Jono came up with another idea and took it to Starbucks.  It was called the MusicBox.  Again it was turned down.  I don’t have to tell you where Starbucks went after that.  Jono came into New York to have a meeting with the mayor to be, Michael Bloomberg a billionaire. Are you sitting down?  Bloomberg blew him off and threw him out – could be the fact he was dressed at the time  a little like a Pirate as I recall.  Possibly his attire would have been more acceptable in California but not so sure in a New York business meeting.  But being thrown out by Michael Bloomberg wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I had a meeting with Roger Penske and 12 minutes into the meeting he threw me out.  You have to understand something if you’re going to get thrown out of a meeting it’s a great thing to be thrown out by a billionaire unless of course his initials are…. Shit never mind.  In the truest sense Jono was a true visionary.  At the foundation, JK met a beautiful strong, and extremely intelligent woman by the name of Season who took him to the next level.  Season and Jono became parents of two extremely bright lovely caring sons who loved music and ultimate Frisbee. He became a full time father to end all fathers.  He was there 24/7 for Julian and Elias.  He loved both of them on a plane most people could not comprehend.  They will carry that love forever. I consider it an honor to have been a friend of Jono’s.  I know he is traveling on another plane of consciousness probably the same 20 or 30 years ahead of everyone else.  Remember Life is not a Rehearsal and you only have one take so make the best of it as Jono did.

Alan Kaplan Rest in Peace

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

The average person who knew Alan Kaplan from the many get-togethers parties etc, knew him as a photographer and artist who was married to a beautiful crazy lady by the name of  Wendy and also had a lovely daughter by the name of Kyle, although I did not know her well.  

Anybody in the professional New York Photographic Community knew Alan as a World Class Photographer and Painter who traveled the world recording amazing images and making films.  When I think of f Alan Kaplan I think of him as the “Johnny Cash” of NYC photography.  The man in black was a very low key, soft spoken guy who seemed to never raise his voice, not break a sweat, or get pissed off (or you did not know if he did).  All and all he was quite the visionary!   In the business he was known as a minimalistic and laid back image-maker.   In the past 15 years, we’ve had hundreds of conversations on how we should save the world with our art.   Rest assured Alan will be painting and photographing on another level of consciousness and will be kicking ass and taking names – but quietly.  Unlike some of his contemporaries who are loud, boisterous, nasty and egotistical,  Alan was the exact opposite.  His talent was what it was all about.  He let his talent speak for itself.  He did not need to tell anyone how great he was.  

I spoke to Alan for a short time last week and only sorry to not have spoke to him longer.  Alan, God Bless you and thanks for leaving that signature Alan Kaplan body of work behind for all of us to remember you by.  Hope to see you on the other side.  By the way say hello to Peter B for me.

Lovable Lew, a Magnificent Jew

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to all the Ships at Sea,

One of my friends is a great internationally known photographer by the name of Lew Long, or Lovable Lew.  He started his career in NYC and ended up with a Rolls Royce in England. He worked for every major advertising company in the US and Europe. I remember one of his great ads of a TWA pilot inspecting an engine on a rainy day. It was brilliant. He’s now based in Miami and still generating great photographs. He’s begun to delve into videography. He has a great friend, who was a major player at McCann-Erickson, by the name of Greg Birbil. He was born in Coney Island, doesn’t get better than that, especially if you love Nathans. I’m going to reblog some of his blogs because they are just great and I would like to share them with my friends…that’s you…if you didn’t know. Follow his full blog here: An Ad Man in Greece

While in college I worked for the post office at Christmas time delivering mail. This was pre Internet and it was snail mail, especially at Christmas time, tons of it. Two to three weeks of helping the regular mailman. It was my first government job; my second was the Army a few years later. Before I go any further, I have to explain something; as a kid growing up in Coney Island, dogs were not part of my life as they are now. Through my wife and kids, all dog lovers, I have become pretty much a dog person. In an immigrant neighborhood where I was raised, nobody had pets, certainly no dogs, maybe a cat for mice if you had a store. Dogs were scary; think of the expression “junk yard dogs.”
I delivered mail in Brooklyn, but a Brooklyn different from Coney Island. I delivered mail in a neighborhood that had single and double family houses. These houses had front yards with fences around them and they had dogs; big noisy, snarling, vicious, rabid dogs, between me and the mail box, which was usually on the porch. Perhaps the regular mailman knew each dog personally…but not me, to me they were “junk yard dogs.” All dogs were supposed to be dangerous. There was only one way to deliver the mail, after all, the mail must get through, even though it was only Christmas cards and life magazines and ads. I opened the gates and the dogs ran out, free and happy I guess. I could deliver my load of mail. I have created a whole neighborhood of released happy dogs involved with each other, probably mating and making more dogs for next years Christmas help.
I am not proud of this crappy thing I did, I would like to personally apologize to my daughter Chris (she is a great dog lover, check her blog, thelifeofcaptainchip.blogspot.gr.) I remember arriving at a house, no yard, and no dog. I start to put some mail in the brass slot at the bottom of the door and I am ambushed by a dog on the inside, he grabs my fingers and I try to pull my hand out and the mail slot closes on my fingers cutting them. Freezing weather, bleeding fingers and the dog is on the inside proudly barking away. How do I get me revenge on this beast, it actually might have been a tiny poodle, but to me he was a snarling Ridgeback; I get a life magazine out of my bag, I have no idea if they even subscribed. I put the magazine in the slot until the dog gets a hold of it. I then pull him into the door and then ram the magazine in…hoping to skewer him; I must have missed because he continued barking and probably making fun of me, giving me the “paw.”
Aside from the cold and the dogs, delivering Christmas mail was OK, meeting for coffee and killing time so we could go out on a second run and drag it into heavy overtime. I now know all dogs are not “junk yard dogs’” at least the ones I have in my yard aren’t.
All the Best,
Joe D