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COPYRIGHT © 2008 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JON DIZE
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My Personal Biography and Professional Chronology
Take a deep breath, I am, if nothing else... Verbose!
I was born in Crisfield, Maryland. When I was eight-years-old my parents moved to Salisbury where at the age of 17 I met a girl in a mall who later became my girlfriend and today 37 years later, she still is, but that's another story to be told elsewhere.(smiling)
A professional photographer since the age of 19, I have been very fortunate in life and in love. At the age of 54, I have been lucky enough to have experienced nearly all of my childhood dreams.
In 1973, I met a 69 year-old Master Photographer dying from throat cancer who sought to pass on his craft and his life-long study of the human psyche to someone before his death. I was fortunate enough to have met Walter Coleman Thurston in his final years.
By the time I was 21 years-old, Thurston had bestowed upon me more than $64,000 in photographic education and an invaluable body of technical and practical experience.
I attended dozens of portrait, commercial, illustrative and marketing seminars in the field of photography and business. I was tutored by world-famous portrait photographer Joseph Zeltsman, the Chromazone Master himself Dean Collins, one of the best photographic as well as practical business instructors Charles Lewis, additive and subtractive lighting expert Leon Kennemer, National Geographic Magazine photographers Bill Campbell and Michael Newler and The Nikon School of Photography, back when you actually spent the weekend with some of the top Super Shooters.
Since Walter’s death in 1974, my wife and I have documented events and celebrities in 46 of the 50 United States and four foreign countries. My photographic images and feature stories/editorials have appeared 1,154 times in more than 80 mags and rags world-wide.
Subjects and/or clients I have photographed include, but are not limited to: Vice President George Bush, Andre Agassi, Jackie Gleason, H. Ross Perot, Catherine Bach, David Hasselhoff, Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B.King, William Shatner, Adam West, Burt Ward, Bill Walton, Reggie Theus, Larry Bird, Debbie Reynolds, Tom Jones, Rip Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr., Altovise (Gore) Davis, Rich Little, Melinda (First Lady of Magic), Lance Burton (Magician) and others.
The result of such assignments is that I have exposed more than 1.6 million frames of Kodachrome 64 & EPR-120 film and another 83,000 frames of negative films (most VPSIII).
My feature stories, editorials, spot news reportage and photographic images have appeared in, but not limited to: Better Homes & Gardens, Ski International Magazine, Doll International Magazine, Nevada Magazine, TWA In Flight Magazine, The Las Vegas Review Journal, The Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Magazine, Las Vegan Magazine, Henderson Home News, Boulder City News, Green Valley News, Trucking Magazine, The Daily Times/Delmarva Times, Entertainment News Magazine, Las Vegas Woman Magazine, Southwestern Art Magazine, Billings Gazette, American News Service, French Vogue.
In 1988, David Phillips, my best friend and shooting partner for nearly a decade and I were contracted by Astronautics International Inc. in association with NASA’s Eugene Cernan to document post flight public relations regarding the shuttle Discovery mission STS-26. Gene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon.
After three days of preparation in the area of security and protocol, Dave and I were assigned to the mission as staff shooters.
We received NASA STAFF credentials and access to Media Center III on the floor of Edward’s AFB.
Dave and I were taken by secured patrol to a roped-off area within 1,580 feet of the center line of the runway.
VIP and OFFICIALS were restricted to the VIP AREA which was 6.2 miles from the center line of the runway.
I could hardly contain the excitement once I realized where I was and the mission at hand.
I was standing behind a yellow rope with the top 200 shooters from around the world.
You had to be somebody to shoot from behind this rope, yet there we were.
I was 3,000 miles and a world away from the 40 foot round-stern patent tonging oyster boat I grew up on in the Tangier Sound off Crisfield, Maryland, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, where I spent summers weaving crab pots out of chicken wire for $1 each.
It was an election year and Vice President Bush was with us. He was going to greet the astronauts as they departed the orbiter.
This was perhaps the most important shuttle mission in the orbiter's collective history, since it was the first "Return To Space" as it was tagged, since the explosion of Challenger 33 months prior.
More than 2,000 additional safety features had been incorporated into the engineering and dynamics of Discovery for this mission.
It was whispered loudly that if anything went wrong on STS-26, that would be the end of the Space Shuttle program at NASA.
Needless to say, this was a very important and tense mission for all.
We waited in the desert sand for three hours as they PURGED Discovery’s life support systems and washed the fuselage. This provided me an opportunity to photograph VP Bush.
Secret Service/Mission Personnel had issued Dave and I lapel pins to identify us from the other 200 shooters.
These pins were gold shuttles about one inch long.
You can see one of the lapel pins I had to wear attached to my NASA Creds and again on my suit lapel at the Official NASA Welcome Back dinner hosted by Ginji Yasuda and his wife Yoko, owners of the Aladdin Hotel, Las Vegas as well as in the photo where Vice President George Bush is wearing the same pin.
The pins along with our NASA credentials allowed us to travel with the Bush entourage and attend luncheons and dinners.
I was now one of two Staff Shooters granted this privilege.
My friend and shooting partner Dave and I traveled with STS-26 astronauts Dick Covey, Mike Lounge, David Hilmers, Pinky Nelson and Commander Rick Hauk from California to Las Vegas and documented their every move and meeting.
The Astronauts had seven white stretch limos with the NASA Mission Logo on the side. I rode in the POINT car and was charged with getting out ahead of the astronauts and dignitaries so as to photograph their exit and mingling.
It was in an elevator on the way to see a Special Presentation of Diana Ross at Caesar’s Palace that Discovery astronaut George (Pinky) Nelson turned to me and said, "This is funny! In three weeks, nobody will remember our names!"
Perhaps Pinky was right, but my family and I will never forget their names, nor the time we spent by their side.
NASA/ASI gave my eight year-old son original mission patches from STS-26 (prior to the mission) and the Official Challenger Mission patches made for, but not aboard the doomed flight.
I photographed Discovery Astronaut George "Pinky" Nelson signing a coloring book drawing of "Pinky" performing space walk.
The kid was STOKED! So was his dad.
Dave booked the STS-26 Mission through contacts he had made earlier when he photographed Jeana Yeager, you may remember in 1986 she broke the World Record for Non-Stop Flight Around The World in "Voyager" with Dick Rutan.
I've had a full and fun life and have been fortunate enough to experience many dreams I had as a child and many I never dreamed possible.
I have eaten Haggis in the Highlands of Scotland, (piped in by the Royal Scottish Military Pipers, played with Rob Roy McGregor’s pistol and purse (he was known as the Robin Hood of Scotland) at the home (Abbotsford) of writer/poet Sir Walter Scott in Scotland, hiked the trails around Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage where he is buried between his wife and his mistress in the Lake District town of Grassmere. I think he is pushing his luck, eternity is a very long time.
In Stratford-Upon-Avon, I sat on the bed where Shakespeare was born and stood on his grave-plate at Trinity Chapel.
I was fortunate enough to sit on the fireside mantle/settee in Anne Hathaway’s thatched Shottery home where the Bard asked for her hand in marriage. I have entered the tombs of King Edward, King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and the twin Princes at St. Pauls Cathedral, Westminster Abbey in London and Windsor Castle in Windsor.
My favorite place to relax and escape was indeed in a little town named Ruthin in Wales. I stayed at Ruthin Castle and relaxed by the river Tweed. Nobody can find you there!
As stated above, I ate Haggis (as it should be eaten) in the Highlands of Scotland, to Steak and Kidney Pie in Wales to Mudbugs and Red Bean Gumbo in the bayou of New Orleans to Crab Cakes Imperial in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland.
I have a rule, a policy really. If it is not walking, I will eat it... If it moves too slow, I may take a shot at it anyway!
*(See footnote following the next paragraph)
With the help of a London friend, a renown poet, (I'll call him... Forbes, cuz that was his name.), I was given the opportunity to actually turn the cover of one of four original Magna Cartas.
This is the document signed by King John, June 15, 1215 and is the cornerstone of our democratic society. Our visit to the Oxford University Cloister was under the cloak of darkness and entirely uninvited... to say the least!
* (For legal reasons, any reference to the event posted above, reported to have taken place at Oxford University and may or may not have involved touching a copy of the Magna Carta in a display case covered by a large heavy tapestry, may or may not have actually happened. My mind is not what it never was and I might just be making this up.
At least that will be my defense in a court of law.)
I stood at the graveside of Robert Hode (believed by locals to be the real Robin Hood), stood at the docks on the Thames where the Mayflower departed for the Americas and visited the Mayflower Barn in Jordans, England where the roof of the barn is believed to be the inverted hull of the Mayflower. From the Alamo in San Antonio to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago I have been there and done it at least once.
In December 1993, my wife and son and I took an AMTRAK train vacation across the United States. My son got to see his first Bald Eagles in the wild. They were diving and fishing a small lake in Colorado. We toured the Smithsonian Institution (been there many times) and spent the day after Christmas at the White House where my son noticed the cobwebs in the corners thoughout the Prez's Shack and the cracked paint on the baseboards... He was not impressed!
Bill and the President (KAK! KAK!) were in Arkansas for the Holidays. By the time my son was eight years-old, he had flown around the world. Unfortunately, now 24 years-old, he remembers little of what he experienced.
I had the privilege of being one of Sammy Davis Jr.’s requested shooters and attended gatherings/events by his side. He was a very special man and without question, the most talented person I have ever met. Knowing drums were also a passion of mine, Sammy played drums on my head as well as everything else within arms reach when we sat together. Several years after his death, I shot for his wife Altovise and son Manny.
On a visit to the couple's Beverly Hills home I held and admired Sam’s People’s Choice Award (big crystal kissy shaped award) and his Phoenix/Lifetime Achievement Award (crystal Eagles Wings).
He had a 20 foot-long dark Mahogany bar in his great room. Sam's wife Altovise and I sat on the sunken playpen sofa and shared stories of our 20 year marriages... both of us had been married 20 years, her second marriage to Sammy actually.
The mirror that ran the entire length of the bar was covered with about 200 black and white photos of the RAT PACK and his many friends and associates over the years. Sam loved and understood the power and importance of photographs and the need to document memories.
My equipment list has included: (2) Nikon F bodies, (1) Nikon FTN body, (3) Nikon F2 bodies, (3) MD2 Motor Drives, (2) Nikon F2AS bodies, (3) Nikon F3HP bodies, (2) Nikon F4 bodies, (1) Nikon D70s body, (1) Nikon D200 body, (4) Nikon D300 bodies.
Nikkor lenses (All Nikkors, I don't use Third Party Lenses... EVER!) have included, 17-35mm 2.8 AFS-D ED, 20mm 1.8, 24mm 1.8, 35mmPC, 55mm Micro Nikkor, 105mm 1.8, 180mm 2.8ED, 80-200mm 2.8 AFS-D ED, 300mm 2.8 ED, 50-300mm 4.5 ED, 600mm f4 ED, 500mm f8 CAT.
Hasselblads included: (2) 500CM bodies, (1) 500mmCF body, (2) ELM Bodies, -- Carl Zeiss lenses included, 40mm, 50mm, 80mm, 150mm, 250mm.
RB67 Equipment included, (4)RB67 Bodies, (1) RZ67 Body, - Lenses included, 50mm, 90mm, 127mm, 250mm 360mm, assorted prisms and 120/220 backs.
(1) 8x10 Linholf View Camera with a 4x5 reducing back on a 7' Davis & Sanford monocolumn, (2) Speed & Crown Graphics.
Speedotron 2400ws x 2, White Lightning 1800s x 4.
Wife says camera equipment purchases have been $164,000 give or take a few hundred shekels and yes... SHE KEEPS TRACK!
Well... that's about it for me, hey... Ask for a BIO you get a freakin NOVELLA.
Thanks for stopping by.
JD
The Story of Our Meeting
SUMMER BREEZE
A Poem by Jon for Kathy
The sun arose to no acclaim,
It's wonderment fulfilled.
A sameness paints this different day,
the summer breeze is stilled.
I wake from bedded slumber slow,
where nightmares and dreams reside.
A mirrored face stares back at me,
no place for me to hide.
I wonder what the mirror sees,
this morning as I wake?
Does it know, does it feel
does it forgive me my mistakes?
Does it see what lay ahead this day,
so similar the oddness true.
Will it lead me, guide me, show the way?
This day I first met you.
The month of June, midday I walk,
through halls, I know not why.
I wear the tough and talk the talk,
standing tall and yet so shy.
I'm drawn to search for stars today,
yet wonder where they'll be.
If only even I dare knew,
what mine eyes were soon to see.
I turned and found you standing there,
a vision of beauty and grace.
An angel given wings to wear,
and starry eye'd embrace.
You took my breath and stole my heart,
I lost myself that day.
You spoke a word, then smiled at me,
And washed my shy away.
I never knew that dreams were real,
until I met you in the mall.
I never knew how love would feel,
I never knew at all.
I thank God each and every day,
for gifts he gives so free.
And thank him each and every night,
for giving you to me.
I love you more and more each day,
yet wonder how it's true,
that someone so very much like me,
can be loved so much by you.
Copyright © 2000 Synchronicity Technologies Group
Photos by DIZEMANCode developed by Equilibrium (E.N.) 2009 ©
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