D'Amico Studios

09/24/2025

Before the Games, someone pointed out that my portfolio held an entire Olympic roster. That detail mattered less than what came after.

From design to printing to launch, the full story is in bio.

09/24/2025

It started with a passing comment: I had photographed enough NBA and WNBA Olympians to form a roster.
The real magic is not in hearing it. It is in transforming it into something bigger.

Link in bio for the full journey.

09/24/2025

Before Paris, someone joked that I had enough Olympians in my archive to coach my own team.
That was the spark. The fun part was figuring out what to do with it.

Get the full story via the link in bio.

09/18/2025

https://mailchi.mp/e078c50cc66a/from-archive-to-artifact-the-paris-olympics-project

Before the Paris Olympics, someone pointed out that I had photographed enough NBA and WNBA Olympians to fill a roster. A simple observation. But in my own personal experience, it’s not the observation that matters. It’s what you do with it.

04/16/2025

This is Ernest Hemingway’s typewriter in Finca Vigía, Hemingway’s house, located in the San Francisco de Paula Ward of Havana. This is what he used to write Islands in the Stream, The Old Man and the Sea, A Moveable Feast, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Classic literature.

Here are three Hemingway quotes, which offer valuable insights into life:
“The world breaks everyone.”
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”

I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, l’d love to know, as l’ll gladly share more.

04/16/2025

We found ourselves in the home of Bobby Carcassés. Bobby is a living legend, and he poured us stories the way others might pour rum. He told us what it was like when Fidel and Raul Castro rolled into Havana after the Revolution. They summoned every musician into a grand theater, not for a show, but for a directive: you can stay, you can play... but ONLY if your music serves the revolution. No more of that decadent, capitalist jazz. As he said, “artists, real artists, don’t go down like that.” Instead, they got clever. They buried the jazz inside the drums, hid the forbidden progressions inside Afro-centric rhythms. Jazz didn’t die. It adapted. It survived in disguise. And from that defiance, that creative sleight of hand, Afro-Cuban music was born. Bobby didn’t just witness it. He made it. One of the genre’s founding fathers, still standing in a country that lets its legends rot, while their music keeps the soul of the island alive.

I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, l’d love to know.

04/16/2025

In just four days in Havana, I found myself immersed in something far deeper than a photography trip. With only one camera and one lens, I focused less on gear and more on the people: the artists, musicians, dancers, and everyday Cubans who opened their world to me. What I witnessed was a culture brimming with talent and resilience, juxtaposed against the backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and tight government control. Despite the decay, despite the surveillance, there was undeniable beauty in the ingenuity, pride, and an unshakable creative spirit everywhere I turned. From conversations with cultural icons to witnessing how jazz adapted to survive political censorship; it was clear that Cuba’s greatest treasure lies within its people.

I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, l’d love to know, as I’ll happily share more.

04/11/2025

We found ourselves in the home of Bobby Carcassés. Bobby is a living legend, and he poured us stories the way others might pour rum. He told us what it was like when Fidel and Raúl Castro rolled into Havana after the Revolution. They summoned every musician into a grand theater, not for a show, but for a directive: you can stay, you can play… but ONLY if your music serves the revolution. No more of that decadent, capitalist jazz. As he said, “artists, real artists, don’t go down like that.” Instead, they got clever. They buried the jazz inside the drums, hid the forbidden progressions inside Afro-centric rhythms. Jazz didn’t die. It adapted. It survived in disguise. And from that defiance, that creative sleight of hand, Afro-Cuban music was born. Bobby didn’t just witness it. He made it. One of the genre’s founding fathers, still standing in a country that lets its legends rot, while their music keeps the soul of the island alive.

I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, I’d love to know.

04/11/2025

This is Ernest Hemingway’s typewriter in Finca Vigía, Hemingway’s house, located in the San Francisco de Paula Ward of Havana. This is what he used to write Islands in the Stream, The Old Man and the Sea, A Moveable Feast, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Classic literature.

Here are three Hemingway quotes, which offer valuable insights into life:
“The world breaks everyone.”
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”

I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, I’d love to know, as I’ll gladly share more.

04/11/2025

In just four days in Havana, I found myself immersed in something far deeper than a photography trip. With only one camera and one lens, I focused less on gear and more on the people: the artists, musicians, dancers, and everyday Cubans who opened their world to me. What I witnessed was a culture brimming with talent and resilience, juxtaposed against the backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and tight government control. Despite the decay, despite the surveillance, there was undeniable beauty in the ingenuity, pride, and an unshakable creative spirit everywhere I turned. From conversations with cultural icons to witnessing how jazz adapted to survive political censorship; it was clear that Cuba’s greatest treasure lies within its people.

I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, I’d love to know, as I’ll happily share more.

03/13/2025

http://colorandlight.io