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Sonoma County, a diverse county of over one million acres is famed for its agriculture industry and recreation boasting a booming economy and a unique lifestyle for its citizens described by the same Luther Burbank as the chosen spot of all the earth. Sonoma County is the place

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to live, work and play as we move into the 21st century. Led by the forward looking philosophy of its governing bodies. Sonoma County's 340,000 residents are a harmonious, successful blend of ethnic and economic backgrounds. We invite you to take a closer look at Sonoma County in

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the nineties with your host Rich McGlinchey, How you doing everybody? Welcome to this edition of Sonoma County in the 90s and this is going to be a very special edition of our program we're gonna be talking to and about Ted Castle. Ted Castle is a world

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famous photographer and I don't use that term loosely before we actually start showing you some of his other artwork and talking to him about his career. I want to call your attention to the photos on the wall, which are also by Mr Ted Castle. There is

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the first tee at famed ST andrews golf course in Scotland and I think that's a marvelous piece of work. His other photo that we have here today is a shot he took from the balcony of River's End restaurant and that is the mouth of the Russian

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river. Now that's just two examples of this great photographers work. We're going to show you more about that in a moment before I actually get into the questions and answers with Ted I want to redo something that describes Ted Castle. It's not enough for a photographer

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to possess the technical, technical mastery of his tools in the highly competitive area of magazine journalism. He's confronted with the task of monumental dimensions that is not readily apparent to the casual reader. The elusive will of the wisp he is asked to pursue in the creation

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through graphics of a mood that both complements the written text and induces the reader to stay with it. This calls for extraordinary versatility, initiative, ingenuity and indeed compassion on the part of the photographer. He must immerse himself with the reporter and writer in the subject material

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of the story project. He must also be able to visualize the two dimensional blobs of ink that will be best and most suitably subset lee rather dress the stage for the entire production. And he must finally be that unique combination of psychologists and father confessor that

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is needed to put his human subjects at ease while the eye of the camera is upon them. And I think as you see some of Ted's work and hear a little more about how he approaches things. You'll understand that those phrases written about him really covered

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the subject. Nice to have you here, brother Nice to be here. Yeah. We've had ted with us before and I can truthfully say that we've had so many people ask us more about him and about his photography that we felt it was imperative that we bring

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him back with. That said, let's get into the facts of the matter. Why did you go into photography? Well, basically, I wanted to be an artist, a painter and um I was given a camera a little Kodak instamatic when I was 12 and I started using

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that and that came the images and I continued to fiddle around with that. And I wanted to I continued, but I eventually ended up as an engineer. I wanted to go to europe, but this was right at the beginning of the Second World War and you

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just couldn't do it. So, I just stayed with engineering. And then after I got out of out of the service, I went into the service and was over in the Philippines. I came back and had a job with Bethlehem Steel and I love working with people,

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I like people. And I looked up and here all I could see were the back of heads and people's backs because they were bending over their tables and their slide rules and their t squares. And I said what the heck? And I got up and went

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over to the boss's office Mr McGuire and I put my pencil on his table and I said Mr McGuire, I quit and he looked at me and he said, man, you're crazy, you're giving up a great future. And I said, well I quit anyway, so basically

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then I then I signed up for a photography school down in santa Barbara brooks Institute of Photography, which right now is probably one of the best if not the best that gets us to it. How did you start your photographic career? Uh learn to how to

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how to basically the first thing you you learn in school is how to process film and then make prints and then you learn how to expose and uh um then composition and then about that time after, about a year you decide sort of at least I

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did what you wanted to do whether you wanted to be a portrait photographer or an Ansel Adams. But I wanted to be a photographer for Life magazine. That that kind of image that I was after. So that's why I kid why did you choose photo journalism?

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You know I really honestly don't know except that it gave me a chance to be with people all kinds of people rich poor famous black white green and gave me a chance to travel all over the, all over the earth. And that's one of the things

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that I enjoyed very, very much going out and meeting different kinds of people and having to be able to understand german and italian and spanish and Portuguese and all that sort of stuff. So I really enjoyed it. I worked. I love working with people. Well that's

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that's that's answer enough. That's the same way with you. I mean you're you're working with people. Well, when we had on our program before, I said for the last 25 years I've been a public information officer for Sonoma County and I've taken hundreds and hundreds of

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pictures. But I said now today I'd like you to meet a real photographer. And I mean that sincerely. Who did you work for in your early days? My you're talking about a person or magazines person or organization. Well, my first job was with N. E. A.

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That's news enterprise Association and I had a job on the telephoto desk picking out stories on the teletype. Uh that would make good pictures for publication in newspapers. My job was from midnight until late in the morning reading the teletype and then figuring out what pictures

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ought to be taken and I'd call the the city or whatever it was in the town. And asked them to go out and get a picture of this or that. And then they sent it back and any a was the parent organization of Acme News Pictures.

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So I had that job for about, oh I guess about six months and one night prior to my quitting I saw this wonderful story about this lady who had been, who was blind and had finally graduated from university and I thought it would be wonderful to

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have her standing on the steps of the university with her cap and gown and and seeing eye dog. So I asked for it and about two days later the boss called me in and he said, castle you jerk don't you realize that we have clients below

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the mason Dixon line and you asked for a picture of excuse this, but I'm just quoting this man asked, said to me, you're, you asked for a picture of a *** and that's the first time in my life. I really felt the adrenaline flowing in my

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gut and I quit right that very moment. And after that I just said the heck with it. Yeah. But then I still went out and started knocking on doors and resenting that at that time and taking that action against it. I want to show everybody one

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thing we talked about ted I think this is really clever. Here's ted in his studio and we might get a shot of this. I think that obviously that's ted on the ladder and if I move that over, just a little bit like that, a little bit

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more like that. You see two ft, you want to explain those two ft kid that was my wife who came down for lunch that day. We were living in Sausalito. She came over and I wanted to take that photograph of me in the studio and so

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I asked her to hop onto that bed and raise her skirt up. So I see nothing but the leg and bare legs and bare feet. So that's my wife, believe me. Alright, um what were some of your photo photo assignments? I think probably the for magazine,

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the first real magazine, the summit was for Fortune magazine. And they asked me to go up to boston to photograph the shipping industry because it was in a tremendous slump then and so I went up and photographed and did the job and came back and the

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uh the woman who was picture editor was very satisfied and that started got me going and then another job with Fortune. And pretty soon I got a job with Life magazine and this and that and everything else. And eventually I managed to work for almost every

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magazine in the world at least have my work published in those magazines at this ladies and gentlemen, I hope gives you some idea of of uh the history behind Ted castles work and perhaps more reason to understand why I and millions of others around the world

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think it's outstanding now. I think we'll also uh excuse me take this moment to show Ted's photos some of his work. And Ted would you uh as we show these, would you describe what they are the photograph we're looking at now with the and on the

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computer was done for business week and this was at the first microchip that had been produced in the United States. And they gave it to me and said, we want you to photograph it. So I took it back to the studio as you saw in there

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in the picture before. And I tried to figure out what would be the best way to show the size and I thought well maybe a person's finger or a roux er and it didn't work. So I I put, I sent away for an ant farms on

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Los Angeles, got back the ants and let the ants crawl all over the thing and finally got the right point and bang and let the strobes go, let's see what's next. And the next the next one is I was on an assignment down in Africa. I

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went all over Africa for T. W. A. And Pepsi cola. And this was a young man who worked in one of the gold mine just outside of Johannesburg. And I just love the the one of the reasons that I made a whole series of photographs of

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these workers was I wanted to prove that the the african, the black african was not just an animal for the trees and they had feelings. And that photograph I think really shows the the, the beauty in his face. And here is also another young man at

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that same mind. And I just love, I just love their faces and the way they looked at me and my camera, these are beautiful. That other one in that one just changed so much about them here again, the gentleness and the uh the the inner peace

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I think of these men. This is also at the gold mine outside of Johannesburg. But I just love the whole feeling and it. Photography. Photojournalism. Photojournalism is a, is a sort of an art of being able to feel an image and then snap the picture. This

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is a photograph that I took in Austria of a family. I was over there in 1952 for the American Friends Service Committee and I went with a lady and we were talking to this family and I made that image and to me it's just just lovely.

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I love, I love the the warmth and the gentleness of all those people in the picture. Those are fantastic, fantastic. Um, with a career as successful and certainly providing you with fame. Worldwide fame. Really. Did you ever have any misgivings about your career? Never once, I

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wouldn't have changed, wouldn't have gone into anything. Even if I could have made maybe a 10,000,040 years ago, 20 years ago, I wouldn't have changed it for all the bucks in the world because it gave me a chance to see people and be with people, which

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is what I, you know, I love doing. So I never had any question that the photography. Well, yes, there was. I'm sorry about that In 1952 and 53, I was living and working out of Paris and I went to one days to see a motion picture

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called the detective story. And it's a story about, about an officer police officer in in new york city and he's working with with people who don't have everything and social service. And I'll never forget that, that seeing that picture, I walked out and I I actually

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cried and wandered around paris and screamed and moaned and tried to make up my mind whether I had to drop photography and go into social social service. So I finally said, nope, I'm gonna stay with photography. And as it turned out, Edward Steichen's the Family of

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Man exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in new york city did what I was hoping that photography would do. And that was the show that all of us are equal. I don't care who we are, whether we're black, red green over here from this continent

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or that continent will have hopes and despairs and aims and setbacks. And this is what I love about photography. That and I'm sorry that people are not seeing it that way or maybe some do. I hope so so much. We've covered. We have lots more ladies

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and gentlemen, Ted Castle world famed photographer. And you've seen some of the reasons why so far and I will return in just a moment to talk more about his photography, former stage and screen actor, William Greaves has produced and directed more than 100 films and earned

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more than 60 film festival awards. Greaves films are powerful dramas such as this one about the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass, his film classic from these roots has won at least 20 international awards from these roots tells the story of the Harlem renaissance when Harlem was exploding

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with energy, creativity and a new sense of racial identity. The african american experience most often is either excluded or distorted on the screens of America with my films. I try to set the record straight William Greaves Excellence has many faces. Welcome back to this very special

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edition of Sonoma County in the 90s. We're talking to TED Castle who is a world renowned photographer who now lives in Sonoma County and we've shown you some of the magnificent work that TED has produced over the years. We've been talking to him about his entrance

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into the field and why he chose it. And we're gonna go along that line right now. Um, why journalism instead of having a portrait studio? Ah, well, portrait studio, I think, you know, it doesn't give you an opportunity to get out and see all kinds of

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people and all sit all kinds of different situations. I mean, you're sitting in the studio and you arrange the lights and tell the people to sit down and look this way and look that way and you go click, you know, that to me is, uh, it's

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photography, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted to be able to as the next picture will show. Be able to see other other places and talk with other kinds of people and photograph of the kinds of people. So that's one thing that I'm sure the

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audience would like to know right now. What type cameras did you prefer to use? Oh 35 35,000,035 millimeter single lens reflex because they were quicker. And uh, you don't have as compared to a two and a quarter, like a roller flex. You look down and out.

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35 goes right straight out. And that's why I liked it. And also you could walk around the city or someplace and have it hanging in my hand and nobody would even see it. And all of a sudden something I'd have the picture. Did you ever use

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roller? Oh, yes, that was my first camera. That, that was my first professional. Like the main thing I liked about. That was a large negative. Oh yes, two and a quarter. Okay. How about some of the high points of your life in photography? I remember one

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picture you showed us once before about that. I think it's a Turkish and the greek soldiers and the only picture, I think it's ever taken of them in camaraderie, so to speak. Uh, but someone, would you tell us what are some of the high points that,

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that was NATO maneuvers in the mediterranean and uh, we ended up in Greece. Should I talk about the pictures there now. Okay, so we do have some others, don't we? Okay, let's that look at those. These are some of the high points. In 1952 I went

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to Europe for the American Friends Service Committee and this was a young lady in the schoolroom down in in Italy. And I just love the look on her face. Yeah, you wouldn't capture that once in a million years now. This picture is taken of as you

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can see two young boys sliding down that That little hill. This was taken outside of Madrid in Spain in 1950 and they're they're just having a wonderful time, you know? And this is outside of Madrid, that's outside of Madrid. Yeah, okay, here is again another picture

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of the american Friends Service committee work that I did. This was in Germany, these ladies are out there working there doing their work, taking care of the fields of vegetation. Tell us a little more about that one. The american Friends Service committee assignment was, I'd like

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to mention the fact that one of my first things that I did when I went into new york city, I went to see Steichen. Edward Steichen was the director of the Museum of Modern Art and showed him my portfolios and told him what I had been

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doing and he looked and he said I think you'd better go back to engineering. Well I walked out of that building and said I'm not gonna ever give up until I get some of my pictures in the permanent collection, the Museum of Modern Art and two

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years later, three years later I did. So anyway, he was my mentor in getting that job with the american friends Service committee. This was in, in the town of Naples in Italy just wandering around photographing and again, you know, this is life wherever you go. And

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I just loved watching people do things. So that's that was that you're not only just watching, but you seem to capture them in this. Well, I love, I love this is what makes you a fine photographer. This was taken probably in 1953 when I again was

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living in paris and I was walking along the scene and saw these, this couple embracing each other, the whole the whole thing with with the vines and everything hanging down the wall just made a composition that was just so perfect. I couldn't I couldn't turn it

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turn away from it. So I made an exposure. Yeah, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that. What kind of exposure to use on that? Oh Golly that I don't remember having the biggest, I don't remember. Of course not. I mean, I don't remember whether

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um you know, it was sunny or what now. This is a man in uh England, that's where it was. And this was in 1950. And again, it just shows the the despair and the hope and and the fact that, well at that particular time, especially England

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was having trouble because they've just gotten out of the depression in 1950. So I just loved the looks on his face and so I went and did it. Let's see, we have some other magnificent shots here if we can get them. But this this is what

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this was at the U. N. When it was being held in Long Island. And Eleanor Roosevelt had been uh on in a in a meeting and she came out from the meeting and started talking to the ladies and again I was so impressed with with Eleanor

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Roosevelt that I had to photograph her because she was such a wonderful person. Uh This is Yehudi Menuhin, the famous violinist and I was down on a recording of when he was doing some recording. Who is that? Yeah. Uh and anyway while he was recording he's

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so intense over that. Oh yeah, that's what makes for the greats I guess. Yeah, I wish I could especially like him. Yeah, okay here, here I am when I was in working for one of the television stations in san Francisco and that's me walking backwards with

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the camera and yes of course it is. Yeah, everybody keeps saying turn around again, this is another photograph of that I took when I was with the american friends service committee, this is in Italy and it just, I just wanted to show what that person was,

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how they were living. Mhm 1955 I think it was, I decided that I wanted to go down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and photograph the Havasupai Indian Tribe. They have about at that particular time about 200 and 225, people. So I went down from

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New York, went down and got on a horse and rode down and these are two Indian young fellows who were cutting each other's hair after they had come out of a steam bath where you know, they had dug a hole in the ground and put water

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on hot rocks. This is my wonderful drummer from the Belgian congo as it was known then, but now it's Zaire and he had, he was playing drums while two of his friends, I hope we have that photograph are dancing here they are and that fellow on

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the right, just they're both having such a wonderful time. This again is to me is why I love photography and working with people in photojournalism. I can, I can see different things and and record them and get a great amount of enjoyment joy on that face.

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Oh here I am in my, in my first apartment house in new york city as you can see I could um well I actually, if I lay on the ground on the floor, I could touch my head on one wall and my feet on the other.

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But here I am with some of the things that I did, like little um paintings and um, Things like that and I that was that was in 1948 49. Well, ted we want to thank you once again for coming over and sharing these magnificent photographs with

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us also for along Mr Hughes, ST andrews and rivers in for all of our programs recently. Um who knows? Maybe we can get together again sometime. Thank you very kindly. Thanks for letting me come in. Ladies and gentlemen, a pleasure. This program has been for me.

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I sincerely hope you've enjoyed it too. Been talking to Ted Castle, whom I consider to be one of the best photographers I've ever met. The program is Sonoma County in the nineties. My name is Rich McGlinchey. We'll be back with you next week. We'll talk with

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members of the county government, family or community agency or perhaps another fascinating individuals such as Ted Castle. Until then. Good night, good luck and good health that each and every one of them