Sixties Survivors Photographer Bill Ganzel

Photographer Bill Ganzel

American, b. Lincoln, NE, 1949

Raised in west central Nebraska and the Lincoln area, Bill Ganzel is a photographer, author, designer and multi-media producer with over 35 years experience.

In the late 1970s, he obtained a series of grants to support the field work for Dust Bowl Descent. For this project he tracked down some of the same people and places first photographed by the photographers of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The oral history interviews and contemporary photographs he did became the basis of an exhibit that toured throughout the U.S. through the MId-America Arts Alliance and through the Middle East through the U.S. Agency for International Development. Dust Bowl Descent, the book, was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 1984. The book received uniformly positive reviews. For instance, James Kaufmann called it "an extraordinary book" in The Christian Science Monitor. "Dust Bowl Descent is full of such simple eloquence… Ganzel puts all of his findings in context offering comments by those photographed and including historical information as necessary. But this is not a text-heavy book. It doesn't have to be, because the photographs carry the weight of Ganzel's compassionate vision." His work is credited with helping establish the genré of "rephotography."

Through the 1980s and 90s, Ganzel held increasingly responsible positions with Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. He served as executive producer for television news and public affairs for the statewide PBS network. He supervised a staff of five and produced national documentaries, political debates and statewide news programs. In the 2000s, he moved to the network's Interactive Media Group as an executive producer supervising a staff of seven.

In 2003, he formed his own communications company, The Ganzel Group Communications, Inc. The Group specializes in the production of multimedia and Web sites particularly in the area of history and education. The Group's Web site is at http://www.ganzelgroup.com.

Books:

  • 1998, Dust Bowl Descent, University of Nebraska Press, 1984.