A note from Larry DiMarzio
This book is a collection of artist photos that I took over a ten-year period, ending in 1993.
I started taking pictures purely by accident back in the early eighties. DiMarzio was about to produce our 1981 catalog, and the sales manager who had previously handled these projects suddenly left the company. The project fell to me, and I knew I was out of my depth. Suddenly, I was the advertising director, as well as the head pickup designer for DiMarzio. If that wasn’t scary enough, I had to deliver the new catalog in just 3 months — in time for the winter NAMM Expo. The print run was going to be 100,000 catalogs, and it had to be good.
Although I had been involved in DiMarzio’s early advertisements, this was bigger than anything I had done before. I was directing the ad agency, as well as brainstorming with photographers. We were all trying to come up with something that expressed what DiMarzio was about.
The 1981 catalog ended up having everything, LOL, probably too many things: a New York skyline, a Magritte guitar workbench, guitar bodies in a Zen sand garden, and a girl in a corvette.
Little did I know, by the time the catalog was finished, I would be hooked on photography and creating images.
When the book was completed, I donated my profits to the UCLA Medical Center for Pediatric Kidney Research.
Today, I still take most of DiMarzio’s photos — everything from artist shots to product photography for our website. The feelings originally expressed in this book still hold true today: I want my pictures to be three-dimensional, so that the still images come to life. I hope to engage the viewers, and present interesting pictures.
I am particularly grateful to the artists who have allowed these photos to be used in this book. All of them have been extremely kind regarding the images they have allowed me to use, and generous in waiving their royalties in the interest of charity. Thank you.
Michael Anthony
Reeves Gabrels
Frank Gambale
Paul Gilbert
Richie Kotzen
Shawn Lane
Yngwie Malmsteen
Steve Morse
Joe Satriani
Billy Sheehan
Steve Vai
Eddie Van Halen
Leslie West
