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He died today. I have been reluctant to share this story because
I didn't want anyone else pestering him in his old age. In 1998
Robert Redford, the man who has done so much to promote art, to
promote conservation, and to help stuggling artists, offered to
publish my book. His orders went down through at least four
layers of organization that I have the paperwork for, until they
reached the head of Sundance Catalog. I made an appointment, got
off work early one day, and went out to
our meeting at
the International Center. I think they intended to use the same
people who print their catalog to print my book. I took with me
plastic sleeves full of my original color transparancies, and we
laid them on a light table while
she peered through a lupe to examine my slides. I had heard
about famous authors getting big money to sign book deals, and over
the past decade I had invested over $120,000 of my own
money into mileage and film creating those
photos, so I didn't think that it was unreasonable of me to ask for
$10,000 up front. Pretty naive about the book industry, I would later
realize
that no one was going to offer me money up
front to publish a coffee table book. I never did say no to the
woman who sat across the light table from me, but I walked away
from that meeting without an agreement, and never did get back
to her to publish that book. That was all on me, my dropped
touchdown pass, but thank
you Robert Redford for thinking of me, investing your time, and
reaching out to help me. Thank you for a life of
having helped out so many other artists who have benefitted over
the years. May the world have more people like you in it. We will all
miss you.
(Photo Above: The top portion of the letter I received from
Robert Redford's assistant. You will notice that it is addressed
to my real name, Al Grotzinger. When I started promoting my
music I changed my web name to A.J. Windless, thinking that
Grotzinger wouldn't be very catchy in the music industry. My music
never really took off anyway, so I am currently trying to decide
when and how to change my photography back to my real name.)
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