The Student Becomes the Instructor

Joe,

     Well, next year it'll have been 30 years since I loaded film into your Nikons at the 1982 Indy 500.  It was a complete thrill to finally be able to work the other side of the fence after growing up at the track each May tagging along with my Dad.  Of course things have changed a bit since then.  In addition to the digital revolution, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has undergone a major facelift and is a World-class facility.  I started shooting the 500 for Reuters in 1990 and have been back ever since.  Last year, I had the honor of having my college-aged daughter, Ainslie, join the family "business" and become the 4th generation of Millers to pick up a camera at the 500.  Back at the 1982 you captured the memorable image of the Johncock/Mears finish, and who knew that 24 years later in 2006 I'd repeat the feat by capturing the Hornish/Andretti finish that would appear double-trucked in SI as well as the NY Times.

Peace,

Geoff Miller

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Geoff,

     I am so proud of you not only as a photographer but as one hell of a fine human being. There are very few young people that would give up their bed back in the day so we could get to the Indy 500 at 5 A.M. to beat the traffic. And like many of my assistants, you did so much more than just load film into my Nikons. Without your help, that photograph would not have been done. It's something that I've been aware of my whole life. We tend to think we work in isolation. We tend to think how important we are. But the same way that Rick Mears would say "It's a team effort", I say the same thing. We worked as a team. Your work is amazing. You deserve everything that you get and some more. And who knows- maybe in the next couple of years, we'll have an opportunity to work together again. Keep on shooting and remember the first rule of photographing racecars: Never turn your back on one. 

Thanks,

     Joe D.

All photos ©Geoff Miller

Goodbye Old Friend

Photo © Joe DiMaggio 

Well I guess it's time to take my Beret off for the last time for an old friend Kodachrome Film.  Yes, it's true that I've not shot a roll of Kodachrome in 10 years but in the beginning, I was not only weaned on Tri-X but Kodachrome I and II.  When it came to color film, my film of choice for over 30 years was Kodachrome 25. I will never forget the look on the Director of Photography, for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, John Dominis' face when I turned in 100 rolls of Kodachrome. At the time, I had finished up an assignment photographing the Wittington Brothers, who coincidentally inherited 900 million dollars and won LeMains in their class.  It was a feature piece I was working on and I did not have a drop dead deadline so I chose to shoot with Kodachrome. Another fond remembrance, was Max at the old, old B and H  I had a standing order with Max of 100 rolls of Kodachrome 25, 100 rolls of Kodachrome 64, 50 rolls of Velvia 50, and 50 rolls of Fuji 100.  There would be a line 2 deep at B and H at their 4 cash registers at the time.  Max would see me come into the store and yell, "Sorry I kept you so long waiting, Mr. DiMaggio, your order is ready" and everybody on line got very unhappy as I moved to the front of the line.  I really liked Max. 

Both JoAnne and I certainly don't have an exact count of our photo archives, but we have to have over 1 million, two hundred thousand photos.  We probably will still be making scans from Kodachrome for many years to come.    I guess I had this roll still lying around because it was a 20 exposure roll and not 36 frames

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