On Thursday, Oct 29, photographer John Dominis came to Cardinal Stritch University to give a talk and slideshow about his decades of work with LIFE magazine. Bill Appleby, of VP Photogallery, gave an introduction, including a mention of his and John’s drive from downtown Milwaukee to Stritch, on Milwaukee’s north side.
John asked Bill where they were headed next and Bill said, “Cardinal Stritch College.” John replied that he could remember having made photos of Cardinal Stritch for LIFE in the 1950s. Bill said, “Are you sure, John? I really think that was John Loengard.” John, in his soft-spoken way said back, “Bill, I really think you need to do your homework, as I know if was me that made his photo. I can’t remember the direction of the story, but know that I made Cardinal Stritch’s photo.” During his talk, John spoke about this assignment, referring specifically to a photo of Cardinal Stritch sitting on a bench, looking at Lake Michigan. Using this story as an example of how quick-witted the 88-year old Dominis can be, Bill then turned the podium over to Mr. Dominis.
A crowd of 30-40 people – many photographers – listened to his memories of living and photographing in Asia, of photographing the the “big cats” of Africa for 10 months, of photographing in the mud and rain of Woodstock. He spoke for about an hour, showing around 60 images. I imagine that it must have been hard trying to choose that small of a number of images from decades of work.
It’s also significant to note that another former LIFE staffer, Anne Hollister, was also with John at Stritch. Anne was a reporter for LIFE and worked on many stories with him.
After John showed his images, he answered questions from the audience…
Q-is there any assignment you wish you could go back to, to re-shoot?
+”Oh heck, lots of them, you always were wishing you could do better.”
Q-what is your favorite camera/focal length?
+”well, for the personality stories (like the Sinatra and McQueen stories), there was nothing better than a Leica with a 35mm lens.”
Q-what was it like being so far from your family, for so much time, like on the “big cats” assignment?
+”Well…well, it was tough. Of course, it was hard, but I had to do it. LIFE wanted the pictures and so I went.”
Q-how did you get the intimate photos of Sinatra and McQueen that you did?
+”I spent so much time with the subjects…3 weeks with McQueen and nearly 4 months with Sinatra…they got used to me. The first weeks with Sinatra I didn’t take any photos at all. You had to take time to get their trust.”
Q-did you basically have an “unlimited expense account” with LIFE?
+LIFE wanted photographs and we did whatever we had to to get them. For the “big cats” story, the first thing I did was buy a Land Rover and then cut a big hole in the roof of it.” John also said, regarding the Beatles cover for LIFE that, “I flew to London, took a five-hour train ride to Liverpool…put up four boxes and strobe lights…made about six exposures and then they went on. …Somehow there was a usable picture that made the cover.”
After the questions, John and Anne were generous to speak personally with many of the audience members. In the crowd were Milwaukee photo-journalists Tom Lynn, Bill Meyer and Dave Wilkins-Trotman (a former Journal-Sentinel photo-editor and photog), a photo-class from MIAD, independent designer John Grignon, CSU designer Kou Vang and CSU Marketing Director, Joanne Williams. There were also many photographers present: Paul Ruffolo, Mark Ehlers, Anna Ironside, Pat Manning, RIchard Knisbeck, Jessica Kaminski, and Rob Quinn.
Additional links:
LIFE
JS Online
Mark Ehlers
Photos below:
-montage from the lecture
-John Dominis and Anne Hollister talking with Bill Appleby (right) and another audience member
-John Dominis and Anne Hollister, former LIFE photographer and reporter team
-John Dominis talking with David Trotman-Wilkins
