J: 
And there’s one project that is not I guess in the real world political. You work as a consulting producer on the television show The Closer, and you did a book on The Closer. And so what inspired you on that one? Was there a moment where you said: I have to photograph this?

G: 
Yep, there was. I’d never been involved in this industry. And once I got involved in this, I saw what it took to get a successful television series [off the ground]. And you know, from beginning to end. First just the creation of the idea and then all the steps that it takes, you know, to get it to the next level and the next level.

J: 
Were you involved from the beginning?

G: 
Yes. And you know Kyra Sedgwick and others, but hey, there are 150 other people involved who you will never see in front of the camera. Who are they? And so I went to TNT after they renewed the show, the week after our very first episode—I mean, they knew that they were gonna love this—and I said, “All right, here’s my idea: Let me photograph and interview, not just the cast, but the people behind the camera. And I want to interview the people who are involved in the process of developing this so I can tell the story to people who are really interested.” And this is where some of my skills as a former prosecutor came into play, because I know how to interview people. And I had one man who was in tears talking about the importance of this job and how unique it was to him.

J: 
Through your photography, you seem to give voices to people who wouldn’t otherwise publicly have a voice.

G: 
I think that’s true. If I can continue doing that, that’s great. There has to be an artistic reason for this, because as my publisher said, “You know, I’m not publishing books for nothing. I’m here to make a profit. I have to.”

J: 
And that kind of brings me to what we’re doing today here, which is based on your fifth book of photography: Water is Key. It’s your photographic story of the clean water or the safe water initiative in West Africa. How do you feel the photographs play a role in the effort of raising money?

G: 
The photographs illicit the raw emotional response that words themselves just can’t convey. Part of it is because we’ve heard too often about poor, desperate, dying people in Africa, seen it, heard it. And that’s why the book has some hard photographs. Some people get very squeamish looking at the Guiney worm and things, and I fully appreciate it. But I have to show them that. Most of it, though, is a positive story because the solution is so simple and so inexpensive. And so it has to be almost set up. Okay, here’s the issue, here’s the problem, but this is what happens. It’s easy to solve, and look what happens when that’s done. So it’s the combination of the photographs and the words and the stories. Those stories are very important.

J: 
We see a lot of artists using their art to convey messages about global concerns. And what that does, really, is create publicity. So is that the most important thing creating awareness?

G: 
It is, it truly is. Because eventually, the only way we’re going to really solve the problem of safe water in West Africa is to get the industrialized world governments to fund it. I mean, you’re talking about a huge amount of money here. It can be done. But unless people know about it, they’re not going to do anything. I mean, I’ll give you an example. I spoke to a group of maybe 400 people and they were of every political stripe. One woman came up to me after and said, “I almost didn’t come because I know you’re a democrat and I’m a staunch republican.” And said, “I want to thank you, because what you taught me today it’s not about politics, it’s just about people, and I want to help.” And so, you know, she outlined what she was going to do, et cetera. So it’s that kind of response that you do get and that’s why if I can – when I go to some groups, I say, all right now connect me not just with another group, but if you have local media, connect me with your local media, because there’s a lot more people in Pacific Palisades who will read the Palisades [Post] than they will the L.A. Times. They’ll read that more carefully, and if they see something, maybe it inspires them or their church or their temple or service organization.

J: 
And now your most current book is the Obama Inauguration, right?

G: 
Yes, that’s my most current book, that’s the sixth book. All the other books are mine alone 100%. I was one of twelve photographers in the Obama book, and I have, I think, maybe four photographs in there.

J: 
So you seemed to have special access when you were there. But it was more as a photographer, not anything to do with your past as a politician.

G: 
Biden recognized me because I had met him before.

J: 
He knew you were a photographer?

G: 
Absolutely. At first he went like this [double-take]. He couldn’t figure it out at first. And then he smiled and said, Gil. And I said, yeah. And he started laughing. He had heard that I had taken up photography…

J: 
So in general, for obvious reasons, there’s of course a significance between our union of art, specifically photography and history. Is there something about this idea of capturing history that inspires you to take photographs? And how does the idea of capturing history weigh against your motivation for simply aesthetic reasons?

G: 
That’s a difficult question to answer, because I’m inspired by certain things. I mean, like I knew that the raw steel of the Walt Disney Concert Hall was going to be covered and no one would ever see that again. But for me, I saw a geometric beauty in this, an abstract beauty that I wanted to capture and make sure it could be shared with others. And so I did it in that fashion. You know, when I did the second book [on the finished Walt Disney Concert Hall], to me there was just abstract art there. I’d forget the building. It’s just the elements taken apart, [which] just created some marvelous abstract art. And that’s going to be one of the most photographed buildings in all of Los Angeles, maybe the United States. What motivates me sometimes is just the raw beauty of something.

J: 
And sometimes it seems like it’s the art of history itself, like as you say, the steel will never be seen again, you know?

G: 
It is. And that’s the key. There is art there. When I go into the Walt Disney Concert Hall, I tell people who recognize me and stuff, I say okay now remember one thing: Don’t forget, it was the ironworkers who made this possible. It wasn’t just Frank Gehry. It was the ironworkers. So, you know, when you feel great inside and you see that curved sensuous feel, it was the ironworkers who did it. And I really mean that, because those ironworkers are artists.

J: 
So is photography your life’s work now? Or do you have something else in mind, any other passions, hobbies?

G: 
This is my life work. I mean, I had pledged to the Hilton Foundation—they funded the water program—that I would do that for a year. It’ll be a lifelong project. And you know, if I live long enough to see our government undertake a big project in West Africa, well then maybe I can say, okay, now it’s someone else’s turn to move forward with that. But I think there will always be photographic projects that I will take on. I might do another TV series, because I’m part of this group and we’re all kind of sticking together. But it has to motivate me and I have to play an important role in it. What motivates me right now is the artistic world, but there is some stuff in the political world, you know, what’s happening with our state. What’s happening with the kids who can’t afford to go to college. What’s happening with kids who can’t even go to community college today. If we don’t do something about the dropout rate – It’s going to be a massive problem. My dad was a gang member. He never graduated from any school. He got kicked out of every school and didn’t read and write very well. But yet he was smart enough to make sure that I did get educated. He knew the value of that. What saved him were two things. One, my mother telling him to change his life around. And making that decision to be able to go and find a job in an assembly plant in Southgate when General Motors was there. You didn’t need much of an education. He was able to do it. Well, today those jobs are not available. You know, unless you can read and write and you’re computer literate, what chances do you have? You may be one of those very few who has a gift for something that’ll earn you a living. But for most people, you’re not gonna have it. So unless we learn to keep people in school and make community college and college and university affordable for people, we all lose.