About / Bio

A Personal and Professional Biography and Introduction to... Jon Dize aka DIZEMAN.

Jon Dize aka DIZEMAN

All photos included in this webpage and photo galleries were taken by Jon Dize/DIZEMAN except those which include Jon Dize/DIZEMAN in the photos.

I'm DIZEMAN! (I know! I know! It's not like being BATMAN, but... whatchagonnado?)

A Professional Photographer since the age of 19 (1973), I have been very fortunate.

Now at the age of 70, I can say 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. The irony is not lost on me that I am now 69, the age Walter Thurston was when I met him at 19 years-old.

He was much my elder and I was only one year into adulthood. Life is truly strange... and short.

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 and was fortunate enough to be 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 my wife Kathy and I have documented events and celebrities in 47 of the 50 United States and four foreign countries.

Someone just asked what cameras I use and what is in my camera bag. I don't have a camera bag, I have a CAMERA HUMMER.

https://dizeman.com/kong/humcameras.jpg

My photographic images and feature stories/editorials have appeared 1,189 times in 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), Sin City Sinners, Brent Muscat, Rob Cournoyer, Todd Kerns, Mike Ellis, Mike Szuter, D, that's right... just D, Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake & Dio), Carmine Appice (Vanila Fudge, Rod Stewart, Ozzy Ozbourne), Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven & Hell), Bobbie Brown (model, Actress, star of Cherry Pie video), Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith), Dirty (The Spyderz), Jerry Dixon (Warrant), Blas Elias (Slaughter), Dave Ellefson (Megadeth), Mickey Finn (Jetboy), Chris Frazier (Whitesnake, Steve Vai), Ron Jeremy (Adult Film Legend), Ron Keel (Keel, Steeler), Bruce Kulick (Kiss, Grand Funk Railroad), Kyle Kyle (Bang Tango), Jeff LaBar (Cinderella), Phil Lewis (L.A. Guns), Dario Lorina (Jani Lane, Lizzy Borden), Annabella Lwinn (Bow Wow Wow), Tony Montana (Great White), Frankie Muriel (King of The Hill), Michael Olivieri (Leatherwolf), Tera Patrick (Adult Film Star), Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Jizzy Pearl (Love/Hate, Ratt), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats), Jeff Pilson (Dokken & Foreigner), Steve Riley (L.A. Guns, W.A.S.P.), Evan Seinfeld (Biohazard, Supergroup), Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot), Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls), Tiffany (Former Teen Sensation), Erik Turner (Warrant), Lez
Warner (The Cult), Randy West (Adult Film Legend), Kip Winger (Winger), Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, NY Dolls), Hailey Young (Adult Film Star), Stix Zadinia (Steel Panther), King Kobra, Carol~Lyn, BABYLON, DANGEROUS CURVES, DRIVER, REDLINE and others...

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 12th and 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 "AMERICA'S 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.

Wiki photo (VP George Bush):

DPPhoto (Jon & Kathy Dize NASA STS-26):

The lapel 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.

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, "The irony is, 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 Grasmere.

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. Paul's 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.

With the help of a London friend, a renowned poet, (I'll call him... Forbes Stewart, '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!

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.

It was December 1993, my wife, ten year-old son, John W Dize and I took a "See America By Rail" AMTRAK train vacation across the United States. You had a month to ride the train, jump off at any stop along the way and jump back on as it made a loop from Vegas to DC and back to Vegas.

My son got to see his first Bald Eagles in the wild. They were diving and fishing a small lake in Colorado.

We jumped off in Chicago, had a Hoagie at what is supposed to be a famous Hoagie shop, never heard of it myself, just happened in. Then we ran over to the Sears Tower (The name when I first road the fastest elevator in America to the top.) aka The Willis Tower as it's named today, zipped up the elevator, looked out over the city skyline.

Then we ran through rows of angry cab driver, jumped back on the train and headed east.

We toured the Smithsonian Institution (been there many times) and spent the day after Christmas at the White House touring the Prez Shack and were treated to White House Bell Ringers playing Christmas carols amidst 26 Christmas trees throughout the People's Manse.

My son noticed the cobwebs in the corners throughout 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 in air miles traveled.

Perhaps the best thing about the train is that you travel off the beaten path, along tracks that go through the wilderness where cars and trucks dare not go.

Amtrak luggage personnel broke the spreader on my $4,080 Sachler Studio 8 tripod tossing luggage on it in the hold of the train, but hey, it was an adventure.

But, back then, seeing Eagles in the wild was AN AMAZING THING TO SEE. (I think they were endangered at that time.)

Oh yeah... December 1993 Washington, DC and the East Coast were buried in snow. March of that year they had the "No Name Superstorm of the Century", also called the "Great Blizzard of 93".

SHE BE DAMN COLD!

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 and I have met quite a few.

Knowing drums were also a passion of mine, Sammy played drums on my head as well as everything else within arm's 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).

Sammy had a 20 foot-long dark Mahogany bar in his great room. Sam's wife Altovise and I sat on the sunken play pen 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 was an avid photographer himself and took many of the black and white photos and head shots of his famous friends and stars, many of which are images we have seen, but had no idea Sammy Davis Jr. took the photos.

Sam loved and understood the power and importance of photographs and the need to document memories.

I've been a PPSEL/Private Pilot, PADI ADVANCED OPEN WATER SCUBA Diver since 1977.

June 4th and 5th, 2011, I spent two days and nights with Playboy's top Centerfold Photographers Arny Freytag, David Mecey and Jarmo Pohjaniemi in a SHOOT THE CENTERFOLD WEEKEND, where we photographed three Playboy Centerfolds;

Miss May 2010 Kassie Lyn Logsdon,

Miss July 2010 Shanna Marie McLaughlin

Miss December 2010 Ashley Hobbs.

September 16th, 17th, and 18th, I participated in my second SHOOT THE CENTERFOLD WEEKEND with Playboy's top photographers Arny Freytag, David Mecey and Jarmo Pohjaniemi and with added insight of thirty-five year Playboy Photo Editors Gary Cole and Jeff Cohen, at which time I had the pleasure of shooting Playboy Playmates/Centerfolds;

Ashley Mattingly Miss March 2011,

Olivia Paige Miss September 2011

Jessa Hinton Miss July 2011.

While most were huddling at home with masks on in 2020, my wife and I were exploring 22 states, 8400 miles over 2 months, virtually every National Park, National Monument between Las Vegas and the Atlantic Ocean.

There were record numbers of visitors to the parks. Yellowstone had never seen as many people.

We spent several days in most locations.

Rather than sit home and eat ourselves to death, we chose to hit the road and explored the following locations; Grand Tetons, Yellowstone National Park, Custer National Monument, Devil's Tower National Monument, Bear Tooth Mountain Pass, STURGIS, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Iron Mountain/Crazy Horse Monument, Nashville, Smokey Mountains, The Biltmore Estate, Mayberry RFD and Crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay.

We spent three days lounging on the beach at Cape Hatteras, waves breaking under our lodge.

Three days on Cape Hatteras, right next to the Hatteras Light House, that was hard to leave.

We spent a day exploring Rodanthe and visited "The Inn at Rodanthe" You have to see the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_r1Y6zgCSg

Jon at The Inn at Rodanthe

Kathy at The Inn at Rodanthe

KONG at The Inn at Rodanthe

Jon and Kathy at Cape Hatteras Light House

Texas where we ran into a freak ice storm.

Gobbled Thrasher's Fries on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.

The EXORCIST house, Georgetown, Md.

The Grand Canyon

Having been a Private Pilot for 46 years, I had to spend the day at Kitty Hawk with Orville and Wilbur,
explored New Orleans after the hurricane.

We spent a week exploring New Orleans, Honey Island Swamp searching for and photographing Gators and Boars and a week on Amelia Island, Florida Air Boating.

Prior to that we spent a week at Star Wars Canyon attempting to watch and photograph military jets flying low-level maneuvers through the canyon, unfortunately, one of them flew nose-first into the canyon wall killing two pilots and injuring seven sight-seers, so that was the end of that.

Prior to that, we spent a week exploring Lake Tahoe and Northern Nevada... in fact, we have spent most of our lives exploring dozens of thousands of small towns, hamlets and cities in 47 states in the United States and four foreign nations.

Three years prior, we did a West Coast PCH run from Santa Barbara to Seattle and back to Vegas our home.

Hit all of the beaches, saw the largest Seal gathering in 100 years and toured Hearst's Castle at San Simeon.

Also explored the Redwood Forest, out of season you can rent cabins in the forest for $75 a night and they are indeed RUSTIC.

We're going back to stay for a week or so this Fall or next Spring.

My BIO and some of those photos are included in my gallery at

http://dizeman.com

In the end I say... SEE ALL YOU CAN, LIFE IS SHORT! VERY, VERY SHORT!

Today I am 70. Just a short time ago, I was 19... VERY, VERY SHORT!

If only then I knew how little I knew about... EVERYTHING!

Bragging Rights: Super Proud Father of John Wayne Dize Sr. and my Grandson John Wayne Dize Jr.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10219561739307659&set=a.3087181992095

Married My Hero Kathy Sines Dize 53 years ago. (Together 54 years.)

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224890800970870&set=a.1489309606284

Spent 3 days on-location with Smokey and the Bandit II https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10219350921117336&set=a.3087181992095

Geronimo and I go waaaaay back. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10217363943044126&set=a.3087181992095

One of my thousands of fun moments... showing photos I took of Vinny Appice on my Blackberry... to Vinny Appice himself.

I used to lay on my bed in 1971 with headphones on listening to BLACK SABBATH.

As a drummer myself errrrr.... a kid that banged drums for fun, I could never imagined that one say I would be showing Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice photos on my Blackberry.

Vinny is a super nice guy, I got to know and photograph both Vinny and his brother, Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra drummer Carmine Appice over the years.

I was at a show in Vegas, when Carmen Shortino of QUIET RIOT, Rough Cutt, some remember Paul as DUKE FAME in "This is SPINAL TAP" came over to me and asked if I would photograph the first image of Paul's band King Kobra. I told her there were 10 other photographers in the room, one LIFE Magazine photographer and another Vegas Rocks Magazine shooter among others. Carmen said, "Paul prefers to have you shoot the first photo." Not prepared, I took the band which included Carmine Appice out in the casino and backed them against a wall I knew I could remove later in post.

A quick and dirty, but... GOTTER DONE! Paul also used my photos of him for his CD cover and European tour.

The day I photographed Motley Crue singer Vince Neil's Hawker 800 bizjet and his Lear 80.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmpY8CKcZsM

https://dizeman.myportfolio.com/vince-neil-aviation

There is just so, so much more I could post, 3.2 million photos, but WHO NEEDS THAT?

I will leave you with some SAGE ADVICE...

https://youtu.be/WysAIOmjun8