well earned patina
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 08:33AM 
Just like old times • click to embiggenI have a friend in north Jersey, Mel DiGiacomo, who is an extraordinary photographer.
In his heyday, he worked for Newsweek and was Sports Illustrated's #1 go-to guy on the pro tennis circuit. Until a few years ago, every time I saw Mel he had 2 beat up Leicas hanging from his neck. As a matter of fact, I have never seen Mel without a camera - at the dinner table, driving his car, at social gatherings, sitting with friends - name the time and place, Mel has a camera and is making pictures.
And get this, I have never seen him with a camera to his eye - all his picturing is done with the camera at arm's length, pointed in the general direction of his subject.
His "thing", you might even call it his obsession, is wide angle BW people in their environment. For all in intents and purposes, he does decisive moment street photography. In an interview in Rangefinder magazine, a photographer was quoted as saying, "My first true mentor was a crazy Sicilian named Mellshior Digacamo. He had the ability to capture the magic of a moment in almost any situation, and I began to see what it was to be creative." - a statement that pretty accurately sums it up.
A few years back, Mel made the switch to digital. While his picturing continues as before - Mel can make BW prints that have the look and feel of his former analog stuff - he has yet to come to grips with the digital darkroom. More accurately, he has yet to reach a peace with it. Every time he sits in front of a computer, he truly looks and acts dazed and confused. It's not difficult to see that Mel just doesn't feel at home.
Last week on my way to PA, Mel and I got together at my inlaws in north Jersey. As usual, he had his camera in tow as well as his laptop. For the first time, I noticed that Mel's digital stuff is as bunged up as his trusty Leicas - scrapes, gouges, tape, scribbles, and some general all-around crud was the order of the day - and it dawned on me that Mel was "making himself at home" in the digital age.
It was one of those mini-epiphanies when you see something familiar in a new way - jamais vu. Even though I see spanking new looking digital gear all the time, I never really thought about the passing of a photographic tradition - the era of the "brassed" and bunged camera, which at one time, was the mark of a hard working pro. A beat up Leica or Nikon was a patina-ed badge of hard-working honor.
In most cases, just like many of the photographers who carried them, the cameras acquired a time-worn character that spoke of interesting pictures, times, and lives. In the case of Mel Digacamo, he wears the badge with distinction.
Reader Comments (3)
While I like the way you have spelled Mel's name, making it look like some sort of sicilian derivative of digital camera - (digacamo), if anyone wants to see his work, they should look for Mel DiGiacomo.
to the wife - thanks for the correction but as far as looking for Mel's work online .... unfortunately, another area of the digital age that Mel hasn't come to grips with is an online presence.
To the author:
I challenge you as to why an online presence is so important ? I get over 300 emails a day and can hardly get my work done untill late at night.
I have never had an "online" presence per se it is my work and my excellence that folks know me around the world.
The same goes for my brother Mel, who is known around the world and has limited on line presence
Get with the program...show me how other famous artist had online presence?
Thanks for the opportunity to comment... you have an interesting online presence web site...I have shared it with some of my colleagues in the health care industry.
Elizabeth D Geffers