Iconic Photographer Sante D'Orazio Chronicles His Legendary Fashion Career in Upcoming Memoir A Shot in the Dark Publishing September 2025 from Blackstone Publishing

ASHLAND, Ore. and NEW YORK, April 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In his 30+ year career, Sante D'Orazio has captured some of the most illustrious photographs of supermodel powerhouses like Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum, and Naomi Campbell as well as pop culture icons like Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Pamela Anderson, and Janet Jackson. Now, D'Orazio will let readers into his inner world with an up-close look at what led him to becoming a generation-defining photographer whose work played a seminal role in shaping the way we view the spheres of fashion/entertainment through his raw yet provocative trademark work.

In A SHOT IN THE DARK (Blackstone Publishing; On-sale September 23, 2025), a riotous, Fellini-esque memoir, D'Orazio writes of his many adventures and how he fought his way to the top while navigating a life of sex, drugs, hustlers, and panic attacks. D'Orazio dives beneath the glitz and glamour with artful meditations on the tensions that have defined his career and life. Along the way, he weaves together a vivid story of the Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY where he grew up, raised by both an immigrant community and his artistic (if "overly dramatic") immigrant mother who helped inspire his own creative pursuits. Chronicling his deeply personal, often hilarious, and always entertaining journey of how his upbringing affected his many relationships—both romantically and professionally—D'Orazio provides an insightful look into an industry often revered, renowned, and relentless with surprising shrewdness, shock, and, yes, that signature D'Orazio sex appeal.

"I came into writing my memoir by way of obstacles," D'Orazio commented on the release of his memoir. "The type that life throws at you in the most unexpected times. When spine and knee surgeries made creating my work impossible, I found myself sitting and laying around, forgetting what a natural storyteller I was while entertaining my friends my entire life. I began by writing short stories with pen to paper, filing them away loosely in a box. It was a year later that I discovered it was my memoir. I bumped into a great old friend, Norman Reedus, who had just started a new imprint at Blackstone Publishing. He introduced me to the team who embraced my work with open arms! While working alongside Blackstone, the result became a giant collage, a painting, and a story of my life in the arts and the healing it brought to me because not everything is as rosy as it appears. It's that contrast that makes for great dynamics in every art form, but, most of all, in our lives."

This is the first non-fiction acquisition for Blackstone Publishing's bigbaldhead imprint, headed by The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. Dedicated to quality storytelling at the highest level, bigbaldhead strives to shine a light where others don't—in recognition of the role pop culture plays in fostering progressive change and as a commitment to creating art with a lasting impact.

Reedus remarked on his partnership with Blackstone, saying: "It has been a dream of mine for so long to be able to share and tell progressive stories that shine a light where others don't. I feel incredibly privileged for the opportunity to amplify innovative voices in storytelling that are visionary in fostering change in culture. I couldn't be happier to launch this imprint alongside Blackstone Publishing."

About the Author:
SANTE D'ORAZIO, in a career of more than thirty years, has photographed supermodels, actors, rock stars, and icons for the leading fashion magazines throughout the world, including Vanity Fair, GQ, Andy Warhol's Interview, and the Italian, French, and British editions of Vogue. Also a well-exhibited photographer and painter, D'Orazio has shown in museums and galleries throughout the world, and his films have been shown at the Venice Film Festival, Tate Modern, Art Basel, and the Tribeca Film Festival. His previous books include A Private View, Sante D'Orazio Photographs, Pam: American Icon, Katlick School, Gianni and Donatella, Barely Private, and Sante D'Orazio Polaroids. He lives in New York City.

About Blackstone Publishing: 
Founded in 1987, Blackstone continues to pioneer new and creative ways to bring stories to life. With multiple New York Times bestsellers, Grammy award-winning audio productions, and three books placed on the New York Times Best Books of the Year list, Blackstone has firmly positioned itself as one of America's fastest growing and respected publishing houses. A true independent, privately owned publisher, with offices on both coasts, Blackstone is home to a vibrant and eclectic community of storytellers and story lovers, offering hundreds of new titles each month to its catalog of 17,000+ books. The authors published are as varied as the books themselves, with works by some of the biggest names in literature including Gabriel García Márquez, Ayn Rand, Ian Fleming, George Orwell, Robert Heinlein, James Clavell, as well as more contemporary authors like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Karin Slaughter, Don Winslow, Robert Downey Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Greg Harden, Norman Reedus, and many more.   

SOURCE Blackstone Publishing