Throwback Thursday - 1987 at the White House

Photographs bring back memories. Memories are like that great bottle of cabernet you're saving—they just get better with age. Throwback Thursday is all about stepping into the time-machine and reviving old memories!

It was December 1987, and Mikhail Gorbachev had just visited the White House for a meeting with President Reagan. Senator Howard Baker was Chief of Staff and a Hasselblad shooter, and I had become president of Hasselblad USA almost six months earlier.  

I learned that Senator Baker bought his camera gear from Penn Camera, also a Hasselblad dealer. So, I asked our D.C. salesman to let me know the next time the Senator was scheduled to stop by the store, and we'd take him to lunch. But when the Senator was contacted, instead of letting us take him to lunch, he invited us to his "house"...the White House!

​The memories of hanging out with Howard Baker feel like they happened yesterday. He was a remarkable man and simply loved photography. I couldn't have been more proud to have been sitting in his office and talking about his career, his love for America, and, in turn, imaging. I remember him saying, "Skip, I've been Chief of Staff for only a short time, and I was a Senator for almost thirty years...and this job feels longer!"

As we left the White House, the microphones for part of the Gorbachev visit were still in place. I couldn't resist stepping behind them and looking like I was speaking at a press conference. 

Today's post isn't about the pain and disgust I'm feeling about politics these days. Every day, I'm more astonished by what's happening in America. I was invited to the White House twice in my career and so proud to have been there each time. Sadly, that would not be the case today.  

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