Talk:Dick Swanson

Which one
http://www.swanson-media.com/photos and http://www.swanson-media.com/photos/dickswanson-bio-cv.pdf describe a photographer Dick Swanson (1933 - 2009) born in Michigan and died in Florida. http://www.swansonphotography.com/ is a Dick Swanson raised in Illinois, as described in the biography section. He is still living but was apparently born in 1934.Dick L. Swanson. His wife Germaine has been in the news on occasion as well. I don't think these two are immediate family and I don't know if there is enough information out there to create sensible encyclopedia articles. One of them took a number of photos in the 1970s for the EPA that appear to be public domain in the National Archives. --Dual Freq (talk) 19:21, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Some of the photos ended up on Commons. commons:Category:Dick Swanson. --Dual Freq (talk) 19:39, 13 September 2014 (UTC)

Dick Swanson (b.1934)
Here are some potential sources regarding Dick L. Swanson, photographer (b. 1934). --Dual Freq (talk) 18:22, 14 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Biography of Swanson - -
 * "Man Alone" was mentioned by the 1963 Pulitzer Jury as "good on-the-spot work".
 * An article mentioning Swanson, but mainly about his wife's restaurant in Washington DC.
 * Article mentioning Dick Swanson's journey from Vietnam with his wife's family -
 * Sketch biography listed amongst the best military photographers -
 * Article about photojournalists with an anecdote about Swanson and Gerald Ford explaining a poolside photo with Ford -
 * Short biography -
 * Article linking Swanson with the EPA photos on commons:Category:Dick Swanson -
 * Sketch biography listed amongst the best military photographers -
 * Article about photojournalists with an anecdote about Swanson and Gerald Ford explaining a poolside photo with Ford -
 * Short biography -
 * Article linking Swanson with the EPA photos on commons:Category:Dick Swanson -
 * Short biography -
 * Article linking Swanson with the EPA photos on commons:Category:Dick Swanson -


 * Photos of Swanson on commons from the Ford Library / Museum archives
 * File:Ford A4404 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1975-05-07)(Gerald Ford Library).jpg
 * File:Ford A2463 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1974-12-15)(Gerald Ford Library).jpg
 * File:Ford A2461 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1974-12-15)(Gerald Ford Library).jpg
 * File:Ford A4414 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1975-05-07)(Gerald Ford Library).jpg

Identity of the photographer whose work is at Commons
That's a pretty impressive list. Well done. That said, sorry but I'm unimpressed by "Article linking Swanson with the EPA photos on commons:Category:Dick Swanson". There's no suggestion in it that Angelova or anyone else at Business Insider contacted Swanson. (No "Reached by phone at his home in [wherever], Swanson remembered that [blah blah].") As the photos are in the public domain, of course they were under no obligation to do this; additionally, Swanson's website has no contact page or email address (as far as I can see). So I don't rush to criticize anyone for not contacting the man. But blame aside, there's no evidence that anyone did contact Swanson. Angelova might have simply googled the name and landed at this particular website. -- Hoary (talk) 00:54, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
 * She seemed like more than just a random blogger, but I have some doubts as well, she may have made the connection in error as you say. It seems like he would mention the EPA photos on his bio if it were the same Swanson. The timeline seems to fit, the photos were in Baltimore and Philadelphia in Summer 1973 and he was working the White house bureau which might have connected him to the EPA. --Dual Freq (talk) 01:14, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

Well, I think I've arrived at an answer. I found a Germaine Swanson on Facebook married to a photographer named Dick Swanson. He has an album with the EPA / Documerica photos on his page. album Dick Swanson Photography I did not make contact with them, but his comments on the album make clear that he is the photographer. Maybe it's too much WP:OR, but I'm convinced. His profile photos also match some others I've seen while researching this topic. --Dual Freq (talk) 02:26, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Well done. All I see on both is The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page. However, I'm not a member of Facebook (and, other perhaps than via some invented identity, I never will be). Yes, yes, it's too much "OR", but you seem utterly disinterested so I am not concerned. -- Hoary (talk) 02:56, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm not disinterested, I did remove the commonscat template yesterday, since the business insider piece is not really compelling. I've beaten the digital bushes pretty hard to try and find info for a biography and to verify the him as the author of the EPA photos. However, the best I can do, with online sources, is the business insider link and the fact that he says he took the photos on his facebook page. While I'm not suggesting to cite facebook as a reliable source, I think it does answer the question as to which Dick Swanson took the 1973 vintage EPA photos. Other biographical details that I can find are: Graduated Rossville, Illinois High School, class of 1952 and University of Illinois, 1960. I doubt I can find much more than that unless there is a book about him out there somewhere. --Dual Freq (talk) 22:11, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
 * W-w-what? I was thanking you for your good work (really!); and for me (and Wikipedia), disinterestedness is a definite plus. (Do we perhaps understand the word differently?) The word aside, I agree with all that you say. -- Hoary (talk) 23:04, 15 September 2014 (UTC)