The Daze of My Life: Robert Glenn Ketchum, An Autobiography
Biographies are studies of someone's life based on cumulative research. Good ones may reveal something, but probably barely scratch the surface of what actually went on. The internet is allowing me to do something VERY different.
~Robert Glenn Ketchum
Friday, September 25, 2020
The Daze of My Life: Robert Glenn Ketchum, An Autobiography #219:
Daze, #219: Presidio Gateways would be my third book published in 1993. This project was given to me by Jim Harvey, at the time, CEO of Transamerica. He wanted to create it to be a gift that would be handed out at the transfer of that property from the Department of Defense to the Department of the Interior, incorporating the grounds into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), and he wanted it to honor the HISTORY of the Presidio. Jim gave me control of the project, so to expand the contemporary photographic scope of the pictures, I brought in peer photographers, Linda Butler, Mary Swisher, Lyle Gomes, and Brenda Tharp. Linda, Mary, and Lyle worked in B&W, Brenda, and I, contributed color. Linda concentrated her work on historical artifacts, the rest of us shot the Presidio property, and architecture. In addition, from the military archive, I culled an astounding assortment of historical pictures, and a spectacular array of vintage, hand-colored, picture postcards. I assembled a big edit of these images, and since Aperture had done four of my books, and another about the immigrant entry point on the East Coast, Ellis Island, I took the project to Michael Hoffman, the Director of Aperture Foundation, pointing out that the Presidio served as the West Coast entry point, and would be complimentary to the Ellis Island publication. Aperture not only wanted to print the proposed book, but envisioned it a money-maker, and agreed to pay for it to be printed, as well. Unfortunately for us all, Jim Harvey paid all the photographers by donating the money to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Association, a non-profit. It was there, one of their jackass administrators decided to “get involved.” He vociferously objected to my having been given control of the project, and so he “stepped in.” Although we all got paid, he refused to work with Aperture, and insisted the book be printed by the “hometown publisher,” Chronicle Books, even though they were financially shaky, and had nowhere near the skilled design teams that worked for Aperture. He also chose to eliminate almost all of the historic, hand-colored pictures, saying they made the book look “dated.” He cut the picture selection by 1/3 as well. When finally published, the book was decent enough to serve the give-away event, but the childish design left it without much of a national market, AND with the give-away date approaching, and the book still on-press, Chronicle informed the GGNRA association that they would need a $20,000 grant to finish the publication. When a know-it-all, actually knows NOTHING, good things are ruined. I was very sad about the outcome.
Daze, #219: Presidio Gateways would be my third book published in 1993. This project was given to me by Jim Harvey, at the time, CEO of Transamerica. He wanted to create it to be a gift that would be handed out at the transfer of that property from the Department of Defense to the Department of the Interior, incorporating the grounds into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), and he wanted it to honor the HISTORY of the Presidio. Jim gave me control of the project, so to expand the contemporary photographic scope of the pictures, I brought in peer photographers, Linda Butler, Mary Swisher, Lyle Gomes, and Brenda Tharp. Linda, Mary, and Lyle worked in B&W, Brenda, and I, contributed color. Linda concentrated her work on historical artifacts, the rest of us shot the Presidio property, and architecture. In addition, from the military archive, I culled an astounding assortment of historical pictures, and a spectacular array of vintage, hand-colored, picture postcards. I assembled a big edit of these images, and since Aperture had done four of my books, and another about the immigrant entry point on the East Coast, Ellis Island, I took the project to Michael Hoffman, the Director of Aperture Foundation, pointing out that the Presidio served as the West Coast entry point, and would be complimentary to the Ellis Island publication. Aperture not only wanted to print the proposed book, but envisioned it a money-maker, and agreed to pay for it to be printed, as well. Unfortunately for us all, Jim Harvey paid all the photographers by donating the money to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Association, a non-profit. It was there, one of their jackass administrators decided to “get involved.” He vociferously objected to my having been given control of the project, and so he “stepped in.” Although we all got paid, he refused to work with Aperture, and insisted the book be printed by the “hometown publisher,” Chronicle Books, even though they were financially shaky, and had nowhere near the skilled design teams that worked for Aperture. He also chose to eliminate almost all of the historic, hand-colored pictures, saying they made the book look “dated.” He cut the picture selection by 1/3 as well. When finally published, the book was decent enough to serve the give-away event, but the childish design left it without much of a national market, AND with the give-away date approaching, and the book still on-press, Chronicle informed the GGNRA association that they would need a $20,000 grant to finish the publication. When a know-it-all, actually knows NOTHING, good things are ruined. I was very sad about the outcome.
photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2020
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