On Top of His Game at 93
After 93 years in the fast lane, Robert Cameron has no time for retirement. Not now, not ever.

"Working is what keeps me alive," says Cameron, an aerial photographer best known for the "Above" series of books, which capture many of the world's great cities and landscapes from a helicopter's perspective. "I’ve seen what retirement has done to many of my peers. They get fat and lazy and before long they’re dead. Who needs that action?"

At an age when most people are content to rest on their laurels, the dapper, silver-haired Cameron still commutes five days a week from his home in Pacific Heights to an office in San Francisco's Showplace Square, where he runs a publishing business, Cameron & Company, he founded more than four decades ago.

And although he's been slowed by health problems, including spinal stenosis and hemorrhaging retinas that have robbed much of his eyesight, Cameron continues to plot new projects. His latest book, the 21st title in the "Above" series, features Mexico City and hit bookstores in time for Christmas 2004.

Robert Cameron at the French Riviera in 1972

Cameron & Company has published all of the "Above" books, which have sold more than 2.5 million copies since the series debuted in 1969 with "Above San Francisco." "I've always said that anyone who tries to be their own publisher is crazy," says Cameron. "But I got lucky. I found something people want. They like aerial views."

Cameron, who took his first aerial photographs while working for the Des Moines Register in the 1930s, still shoots many of the images that appear in his books and calendars. Most pictures are taken from a hovering helicopter using a gyroscope to stabilize the camera. With "Above Mexico City," however, he shares photo credits with Herb Lingl, a photographer Cameron plans to partner with on future book projects.

"Herb is a talented kid," Cameron says of the 47-year-old Lingl. "We're considering a number of places [for upcoming "Above" books] such as Toronto, Atlanta and Philadelphia. There are no plans to give up the series."

Born in Iowa, Cameron first visited San Francisco with his father as a teenager. "It was 1923 and I remember my dad bringing me across the Golden Gate in a ferry," he says. "I fell in love with the City and always hoped to live here some day." That day came in 1960 when, after a successful career in the cosmetics industry, Cameron sold his home in Connecticut and moved with his wife and children to the Bay Area.

Though he was financially secure and already in his mid-50s, Cameron started looking for work soon after arriving. He hit upon aerial photography after recalling how much he had enjoyed taking pictures from the air as a news reporter and later as a War Department photographer during World War II. His decision was also influenced by advances in helicopter technology. "By the time I got to San Francisco, helicopters had become as safe as they are today," he says.

"Retirement is a dirty word as far as I'm concerned," explains Cameron. "Even if I didn't have this [aerial photography] career, there are so many things I would want to do other than retire. It's always been very important for me to be engaged with the world and to stay active."

Cameron credits his business and civic activities with getting him through tough times, including the loss of his wife, Janet, who died in 2004 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Outside of work, Cameron is, among other things, a lover of jazz, a passionate supporter of left-wing politics and a fundraiser for the National Association for the Visually Handicapped.

Famous for his wit and puckish sense of humor, Cameron has long enjoyed a rich social life. His large circle of friends has included such luminaries as Louis Armstrong ("he used to call me Bob Cameraman"), Herb Caen, Art Hoppe, Alistair Cook, Pierre Salinger and Ansel Adams.

(This article originally appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of Bay Area Summit)

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