I visited Dick Swanson and Germaine Swanson Sunday, and was reminded of this great "under-the-scenes" photo that Dick took of President Ford. I remember asking ...the president if it was ok for Swanson to take a photo of him swimming, and he said sure. I then mentioned that he would like to take it from the bottom of the pool. The president paused for a moment, nodded, and said, "As long as he doesn't drown." This is an excellent example of the access and relationship that my fellow shooters had to President Ford while I was the official White House photographer. During the 2 1/2 years he was in office we opened the door to dozens of photographers for exclusives. It was one of the things I'm most proud of during my, (and his), short run at the White House. There wasn't one shooter in Washington, D.C. who requested a private photo moment with the president who didn't get it. Two photographers, Ansel Adams and Gordon Parks, I invited in just to meet with the president, but most came to take pictures. The president had great respect for photographers, and enjoyed being with them.
These are some who had the opportunity to photograph the president exclusively at least once, many of them on multiple occasions. It was a "Who's Who" of photo royalty from that time! Dirck Halstead, Wally McNamee, Eddie Adams, Bill Luster, Bill Snead, Frank Johnston, Willis Brown, Richard Avedon, Neil Leifer, Stanley Tretick, Bruce Dale, Charlie Tasnadi, Harry Naltchayan, Dave Falconer, Dennis Brack, Yoichi Okamoto, Van Lim, Fred Maroon, Fred Ward, (who spent three months behind-the-scenes with me shooting a book), Darryl Heikes, Candice Bergen, (for Ladies Home Journal), Yousef Karsh, Arnold Newman, Roddey Mims, Stanley Stearns, George Tames, Susan Biddle, Mike Lein, Dave Burnett, Wally Bennett, Ron Bennett, Frank Cancellare, Jim Atherton, Marion Trikosko, Chick Harrity, Bernie Boston, Maurice Sorrell, John Full, Charles Bennett, Harvey Georges, Matt Lewis, Ken Heinen, Bob Dougherty, Don Carl Steffen, Henry Burroughs, Carl Mydans, Ted Spiegel, Fabian Bachrach, Tom O’Halloran, Steve Kline, Matthew Franjola, Richard Clarkson, John Duricka, Mike Carey, Teresa Zabola, and some I can’t remember! There were also many other newspaper photographers around the country who also were given inside access to the president when we visited their towns and cities. Center for Creative Photography Canon
