Bill Garrett
Sometimes you meet somebody who changes your life. A lead character in the play of your adventures. A like minded soul who gets you, identifies with you,and flips a life switch.
Such a man for me was W.E. “Bill” Garrett who passed on this week to the land of editor photographers who will never be forgotten. Bill brought me into National Geographic Magazine when I was 29. This changed my life forever.
Bill ran NatGeo full on flat out full speed in overdrive don’t ever look back. A swashbuckler if ever there was one. By the time he was THE EDITOR IN CHIEF he owned the place. Yet how did he see himself? As a photographer of course. And he was. Photographer of the Year in 1968 for his coverage of the Vietnam War.
He and I were both “behind enemy lines” in the Kampuchea (Cambodia) killing fields of the murderous genocide of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Nothing fun about it for me, yet Bill could not contain his energy. He was in his element. Out in the field on assignment. Bill seemed to love almost getting killed which he did with regularity. We were both in jail once together in Mexico for shooting pictures in the wrong place, and I swear he loved every minute of it.
Yet in reality Bill was most known for and most talented as the Editor who changed the face of National Geographic Magazine. From the inside top job. Bill went real and gritty and arty and relevant with NatGeo. He was a force. THE force.
He made my career yet others were not so lucky. That is the way it goes for a man with a vision who is trying to move mountains. He totally changed the visual look of the Magazine, yet if you were not on his radar, you might not be the one to write this tribute.
Bill was a Kansas City boy. Married his high school sweetheart Lucy who was with him until the end. Bill’s career took off as a journalism student at the U of Missouri under the guidance of the infamous Cliff Edom who had started the Missouri Workshop. The first photojournalism workshop. Edom emphasized picture editing for all of his photo students. Bill was a natural editor from the get go and he got hired by NatGeo right out of school.
Bill and Lucy had two sons, Mike and Ken who both gravitated to photography. Mike passed away a few years ago and Ken Garrett is still a photographer at NatGeo.
Yet every real life story is a real story. Rough edges are part of it. When I left NatGeo and started moving in the direction of Magnum, Bill suffered. We had been close. Both in the field, at the Magazine, and our families were friends. For Bill, I had defected. In my mind, I was growing. Bill loved the Magazine. His life. I always felt the work was more important than wherever it was published. So on this we disagreed.
Irony of ironies Bill left NatGeo, I joined Magnum, and yet continued to do assignments for NatGeo. Twists of time and fate and serendipity.
I will be front and center at Bill”s memorial in Washington D.C. To honor a man for whom I have great respect and friendship. He gave me a break. Yes I was a passionate and eager player, but Bill threw me the long ball. For this I am forever grateful.
W.E. “Bill” Garrett coined the now famous phrase regarding what it takes to make a great picture. His mantra, “Well it is just F/8 and be there”. Clearly Bill knew that was an over simplification, yet his point was etched in stone.
Bill rode high on the fast horse. I can still see him flying.
-DAH-
Excellent tribute…very well said David! Sounds like Bill Garrett is someone i certainly would have enjoyed knowing. Sorry to hear of his passing…
DAVID,
Thanks for this eloquent tribute to Bill Garrett whose tenure as editor was certainly a major turning point for National Geographic. I know some of the stories of his rise- and fall- but you of course know far more than me and more than what you have alluded to here. I still remember when the photo of the two saffron-robed monks in the doorway at Angkor Wat was first published. It became one of National Geographic’s best remembered and most iconic images. Stories like the one on the cocaine trade or “To Live in Harlem” would never have appeared under the watch of any previous editor. I didn’t know Bill Garrett personally, but I knew of him through his work and had great respect and admiration for him.
Another great photographer also passed away this week: Marc Riboud, long a Magnum member, whose work on China, India, and Vietnam (especially wartime North Vietnam) was unsurpassed.
You and I are now at an age when the passage of people who have been important to us is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence. This week’s loss feels particularly heavy, and marks the end of an era.
He is going upstairs…he will be with MARC and the Others…Circle of friends…Love to All…!!!