A Selection of Photographs by Dennis Brack

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Reagan_Ford_poster.jpg

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Candidate Ronald Reagan posing in front of the President Ford campaign poster in March 1976. Actually I made both images in this photograph. I was commissioned to do the prints ads and brochures for President Ford--David Hume Kennerly thought that they should not use official White House pictures for the election ads (times change) so they hired me. The President Ford poster was one of the major symbols of the Ford campaign. A few days before the New Hampshire primary I convinced Mike Deaver and Lyn Nofzinger to have Reagan pose in front of this poster as a cover for TIME if he won the New Hampshire primary...I knew that the famous photographer, Richard Avedon, had photographed Reagan the day before. Avedon was doing a series of portraits of the presidential candidates for ROLLING STONE using the 8x10 format. His style was to stand the subject on a seamless background and just wait and then take what Avedon called the most truthful image of the candidate--others called it the ugliest portrait...While I was photographing Reagan, I said "Boy, yesterday you had a very famous photographer taking your portrait" Reagan replied, "Oh, that fellow, he wasn't a very good photographer". Reagan was used to Hollywood, news, and fashion photographers who would take a picture and Reagan would react for the next pose--Avedon just stood there, did not say anything, and didn't take a picture. Reagan could not understand this. Sure enough, the photograph by Avedon in the ROLLING STONE article was not flattering...Oh, Reagan lost the New Hampshire primary to President Ford and this image was never the cover of TIME...Photograph by Dennis Brack bb 27
Copyright
Dennis Brack
Image Size
2116x3000 / 1.8MB
Contained in galleries
Reagan, New images 7/10
Candidate Ronald Reagan posing in front of the President Ford campaign poster in March 1976. Actually I made both images in this photograph. I was commissioned to do the prints ads and brochures for President Ford--David Hume Kennerly thought that they should not use official White House pictures for the election ads (times change) so they hired me. The President Ford poster was one of the major symbols of the Ford campaign. A few days before the New Hampshire primary I convinced Mike Deaver and Lyn Nofzinger to have Reagan pose in front of this poster as a cover for TIME if he won the New Hampshire primary...I knew that the famous photographer, Richard Avedon, had photographed Reagan the day before. Avedon was doing a series of portraits of the presidential candidates for ROLLING STONE using the 8x10 format. His style was to stand the subject on a seamless background and just wait and then take what Avedon called the most truthful image of the candidate--others called it the ugliest portrait...While I was photographing Reagan, I said "Boy, yesterday you had a very famous photographer taking your portrait" Reagan replied, "Oh, that fellow, he wasn't a very good photographer". Reagan was used to Hollywood, news, and fashion photographers who would take a picture and Reagan would react for the next pose--Avedon just stood there, did not say anything, and didn't take a picture. Reagan could not understand this. Sure enough, the photograph by Avedon in the ROLLING STONE article was not flattering...Oh, Reagan lost the New Hampshire primary to President Ford and this image was never the cover of TIME...Photograph by Dennis Brack bb 27