[ My Time And Our Common Culture]

I Started Teaching In '76 And I'd Been A Photographer At The Geographic For Six Years. But Prior To Being At The Geographic I Was A Teacher. Plus My Parents Were Teachers And My Brother And My Grandparents. So It Was The Culture Of Our Family To Think About Teaching, To Talk About Teaching, To Talk About Teachers.

My Best Work Is Often Almost Unconscious And Occurs Ahead Of My Ability To Understand It.

That Statement [ Stephen Ambrose:'you, Sam, Have The Hardest Job, Which Is, Pretend Like Nothing Has Happened In The Last 200 Years.'] Woke Me Up To The Fact That The Landscape That Lewis And Clark Came Across Was Greater Than The Serengeti. And It's Gone.

One Of The Things That I Most Believe In Is The Compose And Wait Philosophy Of Photography. It’s A Very Satisfying, Almost Spiritual Way To Photograph. Life Isn't’ Knocking You Around, Life Isn't Controlling You. You Have Picked Your Place, You’ve Picked Your Scene, You’ve Picked Your Light, You’ve Done All The Decision Making And You Are Waiting For The Moment To Come To You.

I Was Known As A 35-mm Photographer With A View-camera Mentality.