Diane Hoppe - Photographer

Photographer Feature Spread

Diana was born in Queens NY and eventually ended up in Winthrop NY, near the Canadian border on a 500 acre farm. Her dad traveled the world on a ship and took pictures, naturally Diana started taking pics at 3, and she even has a photo of that. She uses a D3 Nikon, loves it and uses many different lenses; she has her own lighting studio for indoors but prefers shooting pics outdoors, in Mother Nature. In 2000, Diana went to her first pool tournament and she described “the lighting was like a bat cave”, she knew if she could work through this, she would learn a lot. That she did and the pool world drew her in. She has managed multimedia projects and is great friends with Earl “the Pearl” Strickland. She has been published by all the billiards magazines and did a lot of coverage for AZB, she produced 3 dvds: the Road Scholars, Earl the Pearl’s Road Stories, and the Wonder Wop with Danny Diliberto. They all have stories and trick shots and pictures, Danny D even sings on his. Diana covered the US Open and Derby for years. “There is so much action, a lot of ups and downs in pool, but I love getting those shots.” She has a web site dianahoppe.com. Her feature is Earl’s wisdom tooth signed. In addition to the billiard memorabilia and collectibles available for sale on her website, there is also some of her art and nature photography listed that is also available for sale.

My name is Diana Hoppe. I have been a practicing photographer since the age of 3. I have covered the pool world for 15+ years. I do freelance work and have been hired by almost all the major billiard publications. I’ve covered such high profile events as the US Open and the Derby City Classic. I’ve worked with ESPN2, Sports Illustrated and many international publications. Additionally, I’m on the One Pocket Hall of Fame board and do whatever I can to help put the sport of billiards on the map.

I recently produced the Road Scholars DVD in order to educate the up and coming generations to the history of our sport and to help the guys involved make some money for financial support. The ‘Scholars’ members are also available for lessons, exhibitions, dinner or most any type of appearance. Please contact me if you’re interested in booking any of these amazing characters from our great sport. In this issue of Sneaky Pete Mafia Magazine, I wanted to feature one of the top pool action photographers in the country. Her experience speaks for herself, however, when I approached her about contributing I got a taste of the passion that Diana holds for life and the pool world. She was thrilled to contribute and immediately started reminisicing about her multitude of memories in the New York pool scene and beyond. For this feature I asked Diana to submit a collection of some of her favorite photos. Enjoy. If you have any questions of the photos that are included, please don’t hesitate to contact Diana at her website listed above.