I love the cold!/I'm a lying bastard!

©Joe DiMaggio

Hi everybody,

I've always been extremely fond of macro lenses. As a matter of fact, I've shot more covers with a macro lens than probably any other piece of glass. For instance, macros are great for boxing. Why? Because traditionally, the lenses are deeply reset and the maximun aperture f/2.8 is a great f stop for boxing, fast enough, and enough depth of field to make the photo. Thank God they don't have boxing outside in the wintertime anyway! The droplet of water, as simple as you can get, tack sharp. If you have a long macro lens, maybe you can even stay inside and shoot it. Stay warm, it's only two more months before spring!

©JoAnne Kalish

In Memory of My Son Joseph

One year ago today, I lost my first born son Joseph. That same day, part of my heart and soul were lost forever. There is no way I can express on how much I miss him.  The photo of Joe eating watermelon was taken the same week he attended a Black Panther rally with me at Yale University.

If none of this makes sense to you it certainly makes no sense to me.

Photos © Joe DiMaggio

Watch FX Drama Lights Out January 11 10 PM

Photos ©Joe DiMaggio - Lights Out Photography and filmmaking are unlike any other means of communication, where sworn competitors can come together and work on one project and have an amazingly great time.  I guess it takes 4-5 decades to truly understand the camaraderie between your peer group. I spent quite a bit of time at the studio with my dear friend Johnny Eye, (John Iacono) who you may remember was named photographer of the year at the Lucie awards for Lifetime achievement in Sports.  Someone asked me, how do I feel about that?  I said I'm ecstatic for him; if anyone deserves it, Johnny does in spades!  He deserves 3 lifetime awards.  Being good is one thing but being great over 40 years is pretty hard to do.  Tune into LIGHTS OUT  and see if you recognize any of the Extras. Each one of us played a very difficult part - photographers ringside at a heavyweight championship fight.  Wow what a stretch!  It was a lot of fun!

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

copyright MMX JoAnne Kalish

A Year Ago Today I spent New Year's in The Hospital.  A few weeks later my son Joseph went to heaven. Two months later I had bi-lateral hip surgery. It was a year I will never forget!


I dreamt about New Years Eve and was hoping the forces that be, would allow the year to end on a positive note and luckily my prayers were answered.  A new friend of mine by the name of Don Sargent, a hero and humble visionary came into my life in the middle of the Upper Delaware Forest.  Don was an eighth grade drop out, crew chief, & machine gunner on a Huey combat attack helicopter. A mere 40 years later, he now has a doctorate degree and is saving the lives of many wounded soldiers from our wars. I was fascinated and so taken by Don life that I wanted to do a short film on his story. With Dylan, as my director of photography, and also acting as sound man, we set out to do just that. Yesterday, Don agreed to allow us into a very private and joyous cathedral.  We filmed his native american prayer service. The cathedral ceiling was the sky, the alter was the land and the walls were made up of trees and snow.The ceremony was truly  beautiful and inspiring.  As we were leaving, he gave me a hug and explained he would normally never do this; but did it, not only for the New Year but for the spirit of friends and relatives, and also for my son Joseph.  For that I will always be grateful.  
Thank you Don  Thank you Dylan  Thank you JoAnne     Happy New Year To All My Friends
Joe D

Holiday Greetings

Would like to thank all of our great students who sent us greetings for a wonderful Holiday Season.  

The Dyna-lite alumni group has recently got in touch with us and requested a second advanced Dyna-lite studio workshop.  We will be adding it to our 2011 schedule. For those interested date will be announced in an upcoming newsletter.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

IT'S HOLIDAY TIME AGAIN!

Artist/Photographer Gary Nicamin 

Every time the Holidays come around I tend to get melancholy. You think of old friends, old times, and of singing Auld Lang Syne. I think of the good old days. A psychologist friend of mine tells me it's normal.  I was working with a new intern today and noticed he was removing some digital dust from a photograph of a dear friend of mine, who passed away. My friend's name was Gary Nicamin. He lived in Hollywood, Los Angeles While I'm feeling in the mood, let me tell you about Gary.  He was one hell of an amazing artist. I met Gary in 1970 and he was the photographer for Chicago, The Beach Boys, Blood Sweat and Tears, and The Turtles. He photographed all of the great sixties and seventies bands. He was also a full blown art director and master of cut and paste. When I had an artistic technical problem I always went to Gary. He also could answer any rock and roll trivia question you could think of.  Gary wore a long Raccoon coat, drove a car that was originally a taxi, and had a penchant for colorful bowling shoes (he had a closet full) which he wore all the time.  At a time when everybody seemed to be stoned on something, Gary NEVER drank or did any type of recreational or prescription drugs.  His only drug of choice was Pepsi Cola. When he wanted to get really high he would eat a chocolate chip cookie. I could spend a long time telling you stories about Gary. So for purposes of this blog we'll call this Gary Episode One.

Here's the story behind the photo; It was approximately a little after 5 AM in the morning. Gary was in his bedroom and I was sleeping on the couch in his studio. I always stayed with Gary whenever I was on assignment in L.A., and in those days it was at least several times a year - usually more. Anyway, I heard sirens screaming, so I got up looked out the window and it seemed like the building next door was on fire. I ran into Gary's bedroom - he was sitting there reading the LA times and watching the local news. I said "Gary I think the building next door is on fire." He said"calm down it's an abandoned building that is being used as a crack house."  He non-chalently, mentioned that it caught on fire frequently.  He led me to the window and we climbed through to get a better view.  I obviously took the opportunity to make this environmental portrait of Gary. Notice the bowling shoes, one of his trade marks. I loved Gary and I sure as hell miss him. A true renaissance man.

-Joe DiMaggio