Formula One Archives

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 31, 2013

©Luca Bruno

Hi to all the Ships at Sea,

Much to my surprise, while I was going through the CORBIS archives on the Formula One photographs on the Austin, Texas race, there was a shot of the back of my head and my ponytail photographing Scuderia Ferrari, Fernando Alonso, and of course the beautiful American flag on my back. It was an honor to be assigned to shoot the race. I take my beret off to Luca Bruno, a world-class shooter who captured this moment. He knows a great ponytail when he sees one.

All the best,

Joe D

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Things ARE Bigger in Texas

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 24, 2013

©Joe DiMaggio

Hi To All the Ships at Sea,

As photographers sometimes we tend to forget what it takes to make a fine photograph. There are other times, we stumble on a rock and the camera goes ‘click’, and something appears in the camera that looks good. You spend “x” number of decades trying to become more proficient at your visual literacy, and then one day you wake up and say “I’ve arrived! I’m good, actually I’m damn good.” Usually, within the next 72 hours, you wind up falling on your face. And it’s a brutal memory that you’re not as good as you think you are. I was fortunate enough to get a full-blown credential to the Formula 1 race in Austin, Texas. And to say I was a little excited is an understatement. On the same level, if I’m honest with myself I had some pretty big butterflies. It’s been awhile since I’ve been around Formula 1. I’ve gotta tell you, the above photograph brings you just a handful of really great people in Texas, who went way out of their way to help me do my job. I take my beret off to all of those great people, and I thank you to the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to come into your home and make some photographs. Please don’t succeed from the nation, we need Texas.

Joe D

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Formula One Austin, Texas

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on November 25, 2012

To All The Ships at Sea

Yes, I know I’m many blogs short – I’ve been running around a lot.

As I’m writing this blog I am watching the warm up lap of the final Formula 1 2012 Series. Last week, I had one of the greatest weeks of my life, as I had an opportunity to get back into photographing the F1 series that I started with many years ago. Whoa…I have to stop… as the current world champion Sebastian Vettel, just spun out on lap number two damaging his race car. Both Alonso and Massa, from Ferrari, got great starts and Alonso just passed Massa and Webber to take second place. When I called my agent six months ago, I told him I wanted to do the Austin Texas F1 inaugural race. In all due respect he told me, I was out-of-my-mind. He said, “you’ve been away for quite a while and the chances of you getting a credential are slim to none.” Much to everyone’s surprise F1 keeps impeccable records and they checked my past credentials and not only gave me a credential but gave me a full blown credential with ALL access!

As I shaped up at the credential center I ran into an old (long time) photographer friend from Mexico. He asked when was my last race as had not seen me in years. I said, “1991 and he replied, “that was 21 years ago.” Not until he said that, did I realize in the world of photography and F1 that was an eternity. If you ever talk to a Boxer before he gets in the ring or an actor before they go on stage they will confide in you they have butterflies. When I stepped into the pits it took about 30 seconds and the butterflies were gone and I felt I was home again. A week before I left for Austin I went to the closest interstate to practice high speed pans. I worked on both my inside and outside pans. I looked at my photos and picked the top thirty and got a base for what shutter speed I needed.

There is no doubt I will write more on F1 before the year is up. I’d like to end this by saying every person I met in the international and national Press as well as all the Texans I met were great and did everything they could to get me up to speed. The international photo brotherhood is alive and well. I’m cutting this short as I need to get back to watching the race finale.