Home Community Community News Southold photographer Randee Daddona is nominated for four Emmy Awards

Southold photographer Randee Daddona is nominated for four Emmy Awards

Randee Daddona at work at the Cutchogue St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday. Photo: Denise Civiletti

Southold photographer Randee Daddona is ready for a second trip down the red carpet.

Daddona, who won her first Emmy Award last year, has been nominated again, this time for four Emmy awards for her work on feature videos produced by Newsday last year.

Two of the videos were about local subjects and mean more to Daddona, who was one of the principal photographers for them.

The Spice of Life,” published last January, is a video about Earl Fultz of East Marion, who became an entrepreneur at age 88 and found a hot seller in cHarissa, a cumin-and-olive-oil-based condiment he bottles in tribute to his late wife, Gloria. He passionately promotes the product with the hope that one day it will be more popular than ketchup.

Tobacco Farm” published in September 2014, tells the story of Michael Chuisano, 57, of Orient, a retired businessman who began harvesting his first crop of tobacco plants, after years of research.

“I just want to tell stories about the great people we have here on the East End,” she said in an interview today. “That’s what I’m proud about, exposing and giving attention to the people we have here.”

The other two nominations — “From Paramount to Pacquiao, the Rise of Boxer Chris Algieri” and “Gabriel’s World,” which tells the story of Gabriel Dispenziere of Riverhead, who has eosinophilic esophagitis and is allergic to nearly all food — are for Newsday videos on which Daddona was “one of many” involved, she said.

 

The awards dinner takes place this Saturday, March 19 at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.

Randee and Lenny Daddona at last year's Emmy Awards. Courtesy photo
Randee and Lenny Daddona at last year’s Emmy Awards. Courtesy photo

Daddona said she has no expectations about winning another Emmy — but she didn’t expect to win the award last year, either. In fact, she was so convinced she wasn’t going to win, she didn’t even think about any sort of acceptance speech.

“Everyone was screaming at my table,” Daddona recalled in an interview after the event. “I said, ‘I have to go up there?’ I was so afraid.”

Daddona is uncomfortable with the attention — she’s used to being behind the camera, not in front of it.

“Anyway, I get to go to a big, fancy party,” Daddona said. She’ll be wearing silver sequined gown by Needle & Thread to the black-tie affair. (She sold the dress she wore last year on eBay two weeks ago. “I’ll never wear it again,” she says. “I’d rather be in jeans and sneakers.”)

The party will be “fun,” she allows. She’ll be accompanied by her husband Lenny and her mother and stepfather, who are traveling from North Carolina to attend the dinner. And they’ll stay overnight in the city.

A Brooklyn native, Daddona studied filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. She worked on a number of feature films in college and has worked as a freelance photographer for many years, while raising her family of five in Southold. When someone at Newsday asked her if she shot video, she said she “automatically said yes” and then proceeded to teach herself the art form.

She describes herself as “a workaholic” who goes to sleep and wakes up thinking about work. It comes from a passion for what she does, Daddona said.

“I love my work so much, it’s really not like work,” she said. “There are so many stories out there. Just to be able to tell them is a joy.”

Correction: This story has been amended after its initial publication regarding which two of the four Emmy-nominated videos were Daddona’s principal work.

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Denise Civiletti
Denise is a veteran local reporter and editor, an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a “writer of the year” award from the N.Y. Press Association in 2015. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website.