GRIZZLY BEAR CHARLES STEINHACKER
the nerve to call Life Magazine. To my total surprise, they put the director of photography on the phone. The world was a different place back then. A nobody like myself could call up Life or National Geographic, and they'd put the top guy on the phone. He would give me an appointment to see my pictures, take me out to lunch and sometimes even purchase the photographs on the spot. Today, you couldn't get near such a person if your life depended on it. Life Magazine bought the pictures I did at the University of Wisconsin. My next self-assigned project was the national parks. I literally slept in the car so I'd be where the light would be best on a specific subject early the next morning. I came away completely enthralled with our national parks. I considered the concept to be America's best idea to the rest of the world. Ken Burns said exactly the same thing years later when he did his film series on the parks. Charles, what was it like photographing for National Geographic? Charles: Quite surreal, actually. They expected photographers to shoot 20 rolls of film per day (760 exposures). After each three-day period, I would mail them the 60 rolls of unprocessed film. They would have the transparencies processed, and a few days later I would call in to speak to a young editor in order to discuss
what was good and not so good about the pictures. Trying to communicate in words about a visual subject with a novice editor proved to be unsatisfactory. I asked her to put Robert Gilka, Director of Photography, on the phone. "Charlie," he asked, "are there any people in Nova Scotia?" "Yes, of course," I answered. "Oh thank
TURQUOISE SEA CHARLES STEINHACKER
God. I thought a terrible catastrophe had hit the Canadian Maritimes, and all the people had been lost." It took Gilka only two sentences to make perfectly clear what the young editor could not. National Geographic wanted people in my beloved landscapes. After that, we got along fine. Continued on next page....
THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2017 • 7