[ My Time And Our Common Culture]

I'm Interested In Smokers Standing On Ledges, And Big Box Stores, The Rise Of The Suburbs, And The Hollowing Out Of Small Towns. Self-storage. Things That Didn't Exist 50 Years Ago. Our Common Culture. What We Have Agreed Is Ok To Live With.

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.

People Say To Me, "who's Your Favorite Kind Of Photographer?" Or "who Would Be Your Favorite Photographer To Have In A Workshop?" And I Always Say, "my Dad."

As I Have Practiced It, Photography Produces Pleasure By Simplicity. I See Something Special And Show It To The Camera. A Picture Is Produced. The Moment Is Held Until Someone Sees It. Then It Is Theirs.

The Neatest Part Of This Book I'm Working On - To Me - Are The Pictures That Show The Process... Because Photographers... Think Things Through And... It Isn't Luck, And It Isn't Random And It Isn't Accidental. It Isn't.