WHAT A RIDE

For many years I was humbled by the talented Photojournalists of my early days, true artists like Joel Zwink of the San Diego Padres, John W. McDonough of Sports Illustrated and Patrick Downs of the Los Angeles Times who gave me the opportunity to succeed in life with my chosen profession. Directors of Photography John Toll, Fred Levinson and George T. Clemens gave me unforgettable memories and experiences working in Hollywood with the world’s best actors and creative artists on feature films and national TV commercials. Business entrepreneurs like Beaver Theodosakis of “No Fear,” Jay Kholos of “World Communications Inc.,” along with Hal Whiteford of Mercedes-Benz of North America, all played key roles in my success as an artist. A special acknowledgment certainly goes out to my dear friend Rorion Gracie of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy for giving me the great honor of photographing his father Helio Gracie’s tabletop book Gracie Jiu-Jitsu which has made me famous around the world. Enormous thanks goes out to all the talented sports stars and movie stars who believed in my talents as an artist. Opportunities are rare in life, but when I met and photographed Julia Butterfly Hill for her environmental masterpiece “The Legacy of Luna”, I realized my artistic talents could be used to educate future generations and better humanity. Finally, I’d like to thank my son Dyson DeSoto for giving me the opportunity to share my love of Photography with the world with great admiration.

 

Thomas DeSoto Auteur of Photography