Jono Korchin

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 2025

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.

Camera Companies (Leica, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Sony)

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on October 16, 2024

The whole world defines the photographic product by companies. Everybody wants to know, how many megapixels a camera has, how many frames per second, are the cameras waterproof, are the lenses water resistant? how’s the auto-focus, do they have tracking? And the list goes on…. What camera should I buy? The simple answer is the one that fits your hand, your eye and your wallet. Today it’s impossible to buy a bad camera, they’re all good. Understand, that’s not why you would buy the camera.

(**See Speaker TBA) – You let go of your # 1 Person at Canon.** **His name is Rudy Winston**!

I’m going to tell you a little story, and its true, no bull-

I started my photography with a camera called a Robin. I then went onto a Nikon and Leica rangefinder. Then got serious about my photography and shot Nikon from 1959 through 1983. In 1983 I chose to take a contract with the IOC (International Olympic Committee). To be able to photograph the 1984 Olympics under the contract I had to give up Nikon for Canon and Kodak film for Fuji film.

When the olympics were over, one year after the final ceremony, I could then switch back to Nikon. Did I switch back? No. The reason I didn’t switch back was not the president, vice president, general manager or the U.S. CEO of Canon. It wasn’t because of shutter speed, aperture and quality. It was because of one person and his name is Rudy Winston.

Rudy Winston, in my opinion, is the greatest technical sales rep and all around maven that God put on this earth. Not only is he a great photographer, but from a technical standpoint there is nothing he does not know. He could take an idiot like me and teach me about a particular feature which would allow me to make much better photographs. When I tell you I know 5% of what Rudy knows about all aspects of cameras, lenses, accessories, etc. I mean it. The man is a genius, and with all of his talent he has one thing that is small, and that’s his ego. With all of his great talent, he has a small ego. If you needed help at midnight he’d be there to help you. If you had a major assignment and you needed to borrow a 2nd 600mm, he’d be there to lend it to you. He could teach you small, little things that would make your photography so much better, and there are other times where he could teach you HUGE things that would actually make the photograph. I genuinely believe what took Canon Cameras from 2nd or 3rd place and made them 1st place was Rudy Winston. Knowing the photographic companies the way I do, I also know that whatever Rudy was earning, it should have been magnified tenfold.

You would think that the higher-ups of Canon would promote Rudy to a senior Vice President. It would really make sense. So what did they do? They cleaned house because they didnt like the numbers and let go approximately 1,200 people throughout the world, and Rudy was one of them. What a travesty! Terrible, stupid, and unnecessary. Will it affect their future sales? Absolutely!

When I decided to move from Canon over to Sony, and before I did this, I called Rudy. I said, Rudy, we’ve been together since late 1983 to 2019, it’s time for me to make a change. He didn’t try to talk me out of it. He understood why I was doing it and that it would be better for my photography to move to Sony.

We maintain our friendship, still today. Do I still love him? Absolutely! At the moment, I can no longer reach him. What I’m about to say, which may or may not be true, he’s so devastated. He changed his phone number, emails, etc. All I want to tell him is how great he is.

If anyone reads this blog and is part of the photographic business, if you want a #1 man, find Rudy Winston and hire him. He’ll take you from wherever you are now to a much better place.

Rudy, I hope to hell you read this, cause I’d love to talk to you.

My go-to person at Sony is an old friend from Dynalite, Jason Etzel. Jason is cut from the same cloth that Rudy Winston is cut from. Yes, he knows 500 times more about Sony than I ever will, and when I have a problem he’s right there to bail me out.

At this point, I should say something. 20 years ago, I thought I knew EVERYTHING about photography. Fast forward to 20 years today, not so much. It’s almost like I’m starting over again and I’m 16 years old. It’s a brave new world.

Jason, I couldn’t finish this blog without mentioning you. I think I’ll start rereading George Orwell’s 1984 for the 6th time.

See below some photos from JoAnne’s and my on-going Autumn/ Winter Art Exhibit at Forest Hall Studios and Gallery on opening night. The name of the Show is Side By Side.

The address is 214 Broad Street, Milford, PA. Hours 11-5 on Saturdays, 11-3 on Sundays or by Appointment.

Lessons Learned

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on August 20, 2024

Lessons learned… All Photos © Joe DiMaggio

Almost 6 decades ago I worked on Park Avenue – not the same Joe DiMaggio people know in 2024! I had a short haircut, a Brooks Brother’s suit with button down shirt, and silk tie with a double Windsor knot. I wore sterling silver cufflinks and a matching vest. The suit was a light-weight grey and had black stripes. Of course, I had wing-tipped shoes with matching socks (hard to envision both for you and me.) My boss’s name was Bob Cohen. His boss was the senior VP of Smith-Corona Marchant. I was ridiculously young. After 3 months of hire, my boss decided I was going to be a field supervisor with 12 men working with me NOT FOR ME. I explained this wasn’t going to work because one of the men was a retired NYPD officer with 5 kids and three of his kids, were older than me. Bob explained to me I could do the job. Once a week he would take me to a Jewish delicatessen (not Katz’s) and he’d give me a 90 minute lesson on administration and how to treat people. My dad who graduated NYU, 17 years earlier, was a stickler for honesty, positivity and treating my fellow man always as an equal. I was never better than anybody else! Both men, radically different people but they both had similar concepts on humanity and the society we lived in. One of the ninety minute lessons was – never put a man, woman, or dog in a corner where they couldn’t go left, right, or couldn’t get out. That was unacceptable! What’s amazing is now 60 years later that’s imbedded into my brain.

It seems like the world loves Joe D as long as I says Yes! The minute I deviate from Yes, things become dark grey, swinging towards black. When I left NYC for Centerport and then relocated to the Upper Delaware (Milford, PA), one thing was obvious, I did not need new clients. I had plenty from Manhattan to Tokyo, Rome etc. Many of my friends and I had almost a 40 year relationship. So, the last thing I needed were new friends. I already had great friends that would die for me and I for them. Pat Nap took on 4 men who were beating me possibly to death, when I was just 16, and saved my life. Brandofino was Pat’s best friend and there was no way he’d let anyone lay hands on me. They were both 2 years older than I. So why would I need new friends?

When it came to the arts I had Dennis Wheeler, a world class artist/art director and all around great human being. Dennis was a great guy who’d even sometimes baby-sit my son for hours when I met with clients in NY, and taught him how to paint and sketch while doing so. My son went on to being published in a national Magazine at age 9 (I didn’t get published until I was maybe 23.) Then there was Paul Laddin another great artist who painted in oil. A very disciplined artist and a true master. He was also President of a large Ad agency in NYC on Park Ave. These are just a handful of close friends. There are so many others. At this point I almost forgot my all time best friend, the great photographer and beautiful JoAnne Kalish. Yes, she is a better photographer than I and I just have to live with that! The advantages is that I she has a small ego and I don’t!

We now come full circle to 3 years and 2 months ago, I decided to join AA. Anybody who knows me knows the last thing I would do was join any organization and certainly not AA! The simple reality is without AA my ashes would have been already spread in the Hudson River or the lighthouse at Eaton’s Neck. My brothers and sisters at AA taught me it’s not about me it’s about us. I should also add that my concept of not needing new friends was wrong. I not only needed new friends but want new friends. I love the new friends as much as I love the old friends, whether they are still on this planet or have moved on. I love my life and friends and for whatever time I have left, all I want and need is Health and Happiness for Us All. These are the only things that are important. I will always remember to never put someone in a corner and strongly recommend you not do that either. My “word,” there I go again… Our “word,” Is more important than anything else.

This is Joe DiMaggio master of the run-on-sentences, signing off. God Bless!

No Rhyme or Reason #2

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on July 29, 2024

The first thing that I learned at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Cliff Eaton explained a photograph. He simply said, “If you look at a photograph, and theres a caption that says, “Grandfather teaching Grandchild how to catch a bass in the lake at sunset”, you don’t have a photograph.” If it requires that type of a caption, it’ll never fly.

I assisted Gene Smith, and while he was alive, other people captioned his work, but he never captioned them.

I’ve come to a point in my career, after being a working pro for over a half a century, where what I’d like to do is make photographs just for myself (That doesn’t mean if a client came along and wanted to pay me to do something, I may consider it… I’m certainly not independently wealthy).

I want to have fun. If you have a camera, thats what you should do, you should have fun with it. It shouldn’t be a chore, nor a hassle, it should just be fun. Life is too short to be grinding your teeth, cracking your knuckles and being a hard ass.

I’m going to die a sweetie, not a hard ass… I hope.

I asked Ansel Adams why he would spend a week, or more, making one photograph. I could just never understand that.

People ask me why I’m photographing hummingbirds. They’re in my backyard, they’re absolutely gorgeous, they’re faster than a Saturn 5B rocket and they only stay for a fleeting second. Its not like the Indy 500 where they go around for 5 hours. You get one shot every hour until the sun goes down, or the top of your head is burnt to a crisp

To all the ships at sea, for gods sake, have some fun.

Michael Weinstein

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on July 3, 2024

On July 25, 1942, the Weinstein family brought in to this world their only son, Mike Weinstein. In his own words, he was just a skinny kid from the Bronx. That skinny kid from the Bronx turned out to be one hell of a great human being.

Mike and I happened to go to the same High School in New York. I never thought that I’d run into him in Milford, Pennsylvania… but I did, and we started the second part of our relationship. But I digress, what I should tell you is that he was a United States Marine, went on to become a world class district attorney and world class defense attorney in Milford and one of the smartest, brightest and finest individuals I’ve known in history.

On June 29, 2024, he died in New York. He died way too young.

When I threw the dirt onto his coffin I didn’t believe I was doing it. I’m not sure I still believe it.

I will love and respect him forever, along with several dozen of my dear friends that have moved to the next level of consciousness.

I was there to bury his son Jessie (one of my photographic models over the years), his beautiful wife Luisa who happened to be not only a friend, but also a model I used over the years, and now he joins them.

Once reality hits, I will go back to their grave and put several stones on their grave that I gathered from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. I will do that and then I will know that it is final.

I miss the three of them.

Vaya Con Dios.

Michael went to another level of consciousness, thank god, before the supreme court made the imperial king Donald Trump… thats enough.

May Is A Beautiful Month

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 22, 2024

To all the ships at sea, my California agent always reminds me to never use terms like “the good old days”.

My agent is living in a world that he thinks theres privacy, and anyone with an IPhone, IPad or any computer knows theres no such thing as privacy anymore. The whole world knows everything there is to know about you and me. Im going to stop there and not give you my viewpoint on whether I like it or not… Oh hell, I dont like it.

All of my mentors back in the day always told me do not manipulate a photograph, do not crop a photograph, do not touch the photo, the way it is in the camera is the way you deliver it to your viewer. I have believed that for more years than I should admit.

The reality is that Im now working in the last part of my life on this beautiful, marble planet.

I’m absolutely fascinated with what you can do with a photograph. In a perfect world, you want to start with really a great image, and then do some minimal manipulations where it could transcend from a photograph to a piece of art.

The next photo is my interpretation of the way I would like to see it on my wall and there may be other people that love it, hate it or dismiss it… and that’s fine. The photo was done for me, not anyone else. So as long as I’m happy with it, thats just fine with me.

Enjoy the rest of May

Joe D.

Frank and Tristan

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on May 8, 2024

Approximately 25 years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting an extremely bright, young man who was working for a dear friend of mine, Peter Poremba, who was the CEO of DynaLite. His name is Jason Etzel. Jason is now one of the super heavy-weights for Sony Cameras. When you need information on a Sony, Jason is the man to go to. For anybody who doesn’t know, I took my first snapshot at age 7, I’ve been making snapshots and, occasionally, a good photograph, for the last half century. Unfortunately, Jasons dad passed away on the 24th of April. I never had the pleasure of meeting Frank, but all indications show that he was one hell of a great guy. Jason adopted his dads dog. The following is a text I received from Jason this morning.

“Tristan passed away after a rough night on my lap this morning. Felt his head go limp, then the breathing slower, and his heart stop beating on my leg.

In many ways, it was the best way something like this could happen. No frantic car rides, no anxiety for him going into the vet … my father is looking out for him now”

I have to tell you, I really got choked up. This is the way life goes. My philosophy is that life is not a rehearsal, you only have one shot at it, so you better make it count.

On my way home from Manhattan the other evening, I took a few photographs, which I’d like to share with you. It’s with my new Sony camera and the new Sony 135-1.8.

April 24, 2024 Greenwich Village

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on April 28, 2024

I don’t remember who the writer was who said you can never go home again. Whoever wrote it was certainly right. I was born and bred in the West Village on 63 Carmine street. At the ripe old age of four, I went to NYU for the first time to see my father graduate. This was of course, after he served 4 years in the U. S. Army Air Force as a waist gunner on b-17 flying fortress. With the combination of “the rent being too high” and 9/11, JoAnne and I made a decision to no longer keep our studio space full time in Manhattan. I must say, we still consider ourselves NYC photographers as it was our original base.

We have a dear friend who is an entertainer by the name of Ronny Whyte who was playing at Pangea in New York this past Wednesday and we decided to go in to see him perform. I took advantage of the time there to revisit my old neighborhood and take some of the rust off my street photography. Twenty five years ago, I was quite good at street photography – not sure I am anymore! If you don’t use it – you lose it! Washington Square really did not change much since I was there last. Great music, people playing sports, lovers and families, dogs and people of all ages just enjoying being outdoors. On our way to the East Village we bumped into the NYU Stern business school’s pro Palestinian demonstration. My blog is not about politics. Did I say that? I’m pro Israel and at the same time I’m not against Palestine and I’m certainly anti-Hamas! For all the years I’ve been to Israel my brothers and sisters would say they are all cousins and I sometimes can’t tell them apart. However, the terrorists are different! Over many years of being a photojournalist, I’ve only been stopped maybe 3 or 4 times either by security, the military, or the police. I’ve never once been stopped by a 19 or 20 year old child who got in my face on a New York City sidewalk which is known as a public conveyance. If you’re on the sidewalk you may be photographed for better or worse. If I was to photograph someone and was invading their personal space I would stop. However, it was funny because these people were demonstrating but yet did not want to be photographed? To have some little shit challenge me was unacceptable by anyone’s standards. We stared at each other for maybe 2 minutes and with his mask on, I could only see his eyes. There was no doubt he was not Palestinian or an Israeli! He probably was not an NYU student or for that matter not even American! I decided not to cause a riot at my father’s former alma mater. I believe in the first amendment of free speech and believe I also have a right to make photographs. A half block away there were three police officers and a Sergeant. I asked the Sergeant his thoughts about me making a photograph on the street and he said of course it was okay. I casually mentioned the fact that I was blocked by their umbrellas several times. The Sergeant offered to escort me back to make some photos. At that point I said no. We spoke for 5 minutes. The irony was the Sergeant happened to be a muslim Arab. There is no doubt, my father is rolling over in his grave. My dad had a doctorate degree. If he was there and that piece of shit blocked him or got in his face, I’m pretty sure he would have bitch slapped him and God knows what would have happened after that. I guess I did not inherit all my fathers nerve and we’re living in a different time. I’m sharing some photos of my day. It’s been a while since I posted a blog.

Later in the evening we enjoyed listening to Ronny Whyte along with the two talented musician who accompanied him. It was also good getting together at the club with friends Steve, Mary, Diane, Quinn, and Errol. Ronny is a great entertainer. An added bonus all around Pangea was to seeing so many framed beautiful Alan Kaplan pastels adorning the walls.

Melchior DiGiacomo A Prince

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on March 28, 2024

Circa 1972. There was a small group of photographers in New York City that came together and were not only competitors but friends. Both JoAnne and I met Melchior at a New York Ranger Hockey Game. Suffice to say, Melchior was a world- class hockey photographer. JoAnne and I were just starting out our photographic careers as a team together. Melchior was an extremely generous person. If a younger photographer had questions Melchior would go out of his way to share experience, in this particular case with ice hockey. His eye-hand coordination in the days of single punch photography was again world class. When we moved into motor driven cameras his work only got better. In our business he was known as an under shooter Three periods of hockey, each period 20 minutes and by that, what I mean is every frame counted. He did not waste film. His career spanned over a half century. He was a gem during the Golden Age of Photography.

Both JoAnne and I were honored to call Melchior a friend. He went onto being one of the greatest tennis, rugby and overall sports photographers. Once he put his mind to doing something he did it amazingly well. The photographic community has lost a great photographer and a generous contributor.

Alan Kaplan Rest in Peace

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on March 20, 2024

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.