SUZANNE SOMMERS, ALAN HAMEL: It's all relative!

Often fans ask me about financial dealings with celebrities. The first thing to remember when you are dealing with someone famous is to never talk about money. It makes the rich uncomfortable to talk about money with the non-rich. In my career I found that most celebrities feel they should not pay for most everything. Everything for them is supposed to be complimentary or free. Celebrities frequently feel that any association you have with them and their notoriety will benefit you in many ways. Sometimes very true. Famous rich types also feel discriminated against and victimized. The super rich often comment that the price goes up when they walk in the door. Yes, very true. The price of an item is often affected by how it is sold. Advertisement, labels and reputation often drive up the price. Old photographs, images, few and from times past have a great value. I am frequently amazed how little the famous value photos of themselves. As a photographer I can attest to how difficult it is to sell photos to celebs that expect them for free.

I heard that Suzanne Sommers and her husband Alan Hamel lost a lot of their photos when their Malibu beach house was destroyed by fire, I thought this was a good opportunity to offer them some of the unpublished and rare photos I had taken of them over 20 years ago. For years I was a still photographer at ABC-TV in Hollywood. I shot still photos to promote Sommers TV show THREE'S COMPANY and years later other projects she was promoting.



Suzanne Sommers and her husband/manager Alan Hamel are mega rich superstars. They have very smart business minds but Sommers often complains about her past deal with THREE'S COMPANY especially now when it comes to participation in the profits from the DVD sales of the show. I heard her talk about this in detail on the LARRY KING SHOW. I can understand. She did the work, the company is still profiting from her talent and she deserves to benefit as well. I felt sure they would understand that I too should benefit from photo work I did years ago.

So with the interest of immortalizing my photography and generating a little revenue I contacted Susanne Sommers and her husband Alan Hamel. From the ancient depths of my Hollywood private file, I sent them proof sheets and I emailed color scans. The material is great, fantastic shots from at least a half a dozen shoots. Portraits of Suzanne, portraits of Alan, production stills, all old in pristine condition. Alan emailed me that he liked the photos and would like to order some.

OK so now the big ugly question. How much? For reference most Hollywood portrait photographers today charge at least $100.00 per print, or per 8x10. Very famous, successful photographers charge more than $100.00 per print. What should I charge for prints made from pics in my files over 20 years? Very valuable! I write to Alan and tell him I want $110.00. We are both businessmen and I expected him to offer me a deal for the material. I really wanted Susanne Sommers and Alan Hamel to have these photos. I loved the shots and I wanted them to live forever, especially with them. I wanted the photos to be valuable to them. No they did not need the photos for free. I was asking a decent price. I am a retired still photographer lovingly trying to share the fruits of my beautiful career in Hollywood. $110 is not a lot of money to ask for a rare photo taken many years ago. Entertainers often buy photos of themselves and these photos were not expensive.

I never heard from Alan again after I wrote and told him I wanted money for the pics.
Some say Susanne Sommers and Alan Hamel only wanted the photos if they were free. Others said they probably have enough photos of themselves and my photos they just did not need. I have also been told that Sommers and Hamel are just cheap.

I say it is all relative. I don't care if Susanne Sommers and Alan Hamel do not want any of my photography. Now I will share these photos with their fans in my ebay store and on this blogsite.

Farrah Fawcett 33 years ago: Her photographer remembers

In the 70s , the media in Hollywood was different than it is today. The press coverage was very limited, no digital stills, camera phones, CABLE TV, the Internet, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, or dozens of Hollywood themed news and talk shows. Before PEOPLE magazine and trashy tabloids, the media’s strength with movie and TV stars was controlled by a delicate relationship between the Hollywood publicity machine and reporters, writers and photographers. This was before today’s relentless, savage paparazzis. I just graduated from college. My first media job was staff photographer for CORONET, a well known respected magazine first published in the 1920’s and an early model for many of today’s photojournalistic type publications.

FARRAH FAWCETT was not famous. She had just finished a small role in the movie LOGAN’S RUN, had lots of commercials running on prime time TV and her good looks were getting noticed. Farrah needed some publicity and CORONET magazine decided to run a story on Farrah. My assignment was to photograph her.

An interview and photo session was scheduled. An interesting note about the terms of the photo session. To insure that Farrah would be happy with the photos CORONET magazine used in the story, I agreed to let Farrah look over the photos and any that she did not like, I agreed to destroy. The term for this is “kill rights.” Essentially Farrah got to kill any photos of her she did not like. Only the biggest stars have the power to “kill” the photos they do not like. Smart Farrah, even young and new to the Hollywood biz she knew how important good photography is.

At a location in Beverly Hills, Farrah, Cathy Nixon(CORONET’S editor/writer) and I met. My shoot was after the interview. During the interview, a fluff probe of Farrah’s beauty secrets as well as her aspirations in Hollywood, I sat next to Farrah and we sort of got to know each other. Ice tea and cookies were served and for some reason everything was funny to us and we laughed a lot. I liked Farrah immediately!

I only needed to shoot a few rolls of film. Farrah was even more beautiful thru the lens. Her sensual sweetness really read on film. She was a dream to photograph, comfortable in front of the camera and she followed my directions well. I loved photographing her. We laughed a lot during the shoot. When we finished, I gave Farrah my home phone number and told her to call me in a few days so we could make an appointment to go over the photos.

Those days I also free lanced for several newspapers and magazines in addition to shooting portraits for many actors and models in Hollywood. My phone seemed to never stop ringing. My partner Lamont, tried very hard to help me by taking telephone messages.

Farrah calls, speaks to Lamont. Lamont never heard the name Farrah and leaves me a message that Sara called. “ She said you have her number.” OK, who’s Sara, no number, can’t return the call. Two days later Farrah calls again. Speaks to Lamont again. Lamont writes down Sara called again. I wonder who is Sara?

Now I answer the phone and when the caller says it’s Farrah, I realize the innocent mistake Lamont made. I tell Farrah my Lamont message story and we have a good laugh. We decide to meet for lunch and go over the photos. Farrah picks a little out of the way café to meet. Farrah shows up for lunch wearing a pony tail, no make-up, sweat shirt, jeans, no glamour, I hardly recognize her. I liked her even more. On a small slide viewer we both agreed on which shots to “kill.” Very few, I was surprised. This lady did not have a giant ego. She quickly approved almost the whole shooting. At lunch Farrah talked about how she and her then husband, Lee Majors, were living at the beach and how much she loved swimming in the ocean, tennis and dogs. She was funny and we laughed even more. The bill comes, Farrah grabs it. We fight over it , Farrah wins , pays the check, smiles and we laugh again. I realize that Farrah is really a fun person.

And so begins my friendship with Farrah Fawcett. Over the years I photograhphed Farrah two more times. I worked on CHARLIE’S ANGELS, Farrah introduced me as her friend to Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith. I shot portraits on both of them for CHARLIE’S ANGELS and, yes, I gave them “kill rights” too. We had mutual friends and sometimes I’d run into Farrah at parties. Farrah and Lamont had a good laugh over the Sara story. I met Farrah’s mother and father. I met Farrah’s sister too. She was always wonderful to me. One time she walked into a press function and came right over to me and gave me a big kiss. My ego soared.

One of the last times I saw Farrah, so many years ago, I told her that my photos of her were being used all over the world and that I was often solicited for photos of her. Farrah said she was glad, she said she loved seeing my photos of her being used. Sweet Farrah stressed to me that I should never sell her photos cheap. Even as a mega star, somehow Farrah kept her feet on the ground. Farrah was just as nice as she was beautiful. She was just so regular.
As the years went on, I saw Farrah less often. It seemed like we were forever sending each other salutations through our mutual friends. Farrah told my friends she was going to visit me in Hawaii one day.

Some of the most beautiful photos of my career are of Farrah. I kept a small stash of my favorite shots of Farrah and only now am I sharing them and my Farrah story with her friends and fans.

To view or purchase ORIGINAL PHOTOS of Farrah Fawcett from my private unpublished file, please visit my ebay store donaldsandersphotography.