This past Saturday, photographer Bill Snead visited the Museum for a free lecture. Bill's photo of the Beatles is featured in the exhibition In the Public Eye: Photography and Fame. Bill spoke about his 50-plus-year career and told some wonderful stories. One constant theme was about how he felt that luck had so much to do with his career as a photographer.
The first image he showed was of the great actor Alec Guiness (he will always be Obi Wan Kenobi to me but I hear he had a very distinguished career outside the Star Wars trilogy). Bill was working for the Washington Post and happened to be the one who answered the phone when "Katharine" called down. That would be Katharine Graham, the Post's publisher during the 1960s and 70s.
Another great story was that as a young photographer in D.C., Snead was roommates with another newspaper photographer. One night, Bill came home to find a party in full swing. Among the guests was Ansel Adams. Bill asked him if he could get him anything to drink. Adams told him he wanted vodka with a splash of water. Bill provided the vodka and asked him if he would like to dance. When Ansel asked him why, Bill told him he had met many people who had told him about meeting Adams but none of them could say they had ever danced with the famous photographer. Adams agreed and the two danced. As Bill told the story, he added that no on there had the sense to take a photo.
After the lecture, Snead was gracious enough to sign copies of his book Bill Snead Photographs The First 50 Years.