If you are lucky enough (and talented enough) to have a long career in photography, over time your work takes you down many roads, and Mel DiGiacomo is one of those photographers. Whether he is shooting the US Open or a wedding, on assignment for top magazines, or doing self-assignments on the street in New York City or in his small town in New Jersey, DiGiacomo is one hard-working photographer whose ability to adapt to a wide variety of situations and come back with the pictures holds lessons for any aspiring photographer.
Photographers are always looking for subjects, and in so doing, often choose the street. As Dorothy Norman said, "You don’t have to go fifty feet from your house to find a photograph." And DiGiacomo is a great example of this. He is as adept at photographing the sports of the children in his town as he is shooting the action at a professional sporting event, or on the streets in NYC or at a wedding. While street photography can be accomplished on any street, New York City in particular is a place that lends itself to the art (after all, our sidewalks are 18% gray!). But street shooting does require a certain discipline.
In this class, photographer Mel DiGiacomo discusses how to know the light, how to learn the vocabulary of your lenses, and how to put aside the technical aspects and keep thinking to a minimum to keep your shooting instinctual. DiGiacomo looks for human behavior, whether on the street, in a classrom, or at a wedding, and follows the advice of Walker Evans: "Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You’re not here long." DiGiacomo will get you thinking in different ways to help stretch your photographic muscles.