GET WITH THE PROGRAM & TAKE A BATH

All Photo©Joe DiMaggio

The old cliché how do you get to Carnegie Hall, is practice, practice, practice. Cliché’s become that way because they're true. I spent a couple of decades becoming proficient at a certain type of photography and have rules that never, ever change.

At one point in my photography I had one camera designated for Kodachrome 25, another camera designated for Fuji 100, and a third camera for Tri-x, rated at 400 (but I really exposed it at 200.) Why? Because you never want a thin negative. I always wanted to print on number 2 paper. So you spend all of this time learning the zone system, and of course you can't really use it, unless you're shooting a 4x5 or 8x10 view camera. Well then along came digital. So, what do I do? I set the ISO to 50 and I shoot all day at 50. It never dawned on me that I should change it. Of course I know I can change it, but I just didn't. That's the way I looked at digital for the first few years. Now, on the same CF card, I'm shooting 45 shots the equivalent of Kodachrome 25, 60 shots equivalent to an ISO of 50 (for when I used Fuji Velvia), 18 at Tri-X 400, 28 at ISO 800, 1600, or even higher.

What I'm saying is we all have to get with the program and change in order to grow. Bathe yourself in the new technology. Move on and upward - it's exciting. I feel like I'm 16 and I'm re-shooting everything that I've ever done and having a ball doing it. Every once and a while, I even get paid for it. It's all good. Joe D