What I'm Interested In Is Modern American

In The Last Workshop I Taught, A Woman Flew In From Thailand. She's A Medical Doctor In Bangkok. I Asked Her In Her One-on-one Session Where She Wanted Photography To Be In Her Life.did She Want A Second Career? Was It About Earning Money? Or Was It Art? And She Said "none Of Those. I Want Photography To Be Serious In My Life." It Would Be Like Someone Wanting Music, Like Piano Playing, To Be A Richer, Deeper, And Maybe Even Harder Experience.

There Are A Lot Of Ways To Be Expressive In Life, But I Wasn't Good At Some Of Them. Music, For Instance. I Was A Distinct Failure With The Cello. Eventually, My Parents Sold The Cello And Bought A Vacuum Cleaner. The Sound In Our Home Improved.

Though Geographic Didn't Publish That Photo In The Story That It Was Done For, "the Life Of Charlie Russell," A Cowboy Artist In Montana. But Later, Maybe A Year And A Half Ago, They Named It One Of The 50 Greatest Pictures Ever Made At National Geographic.

When I First Went To 'national Geographic,' I Thought I Was The Least Qualified Person To Step Through The Doors. But Because Of My Parents And The Culture Of Continual Learning They Imposed On Us, I Later Came To Believe I Was The Most Qualified Person Who Ever Worked There.

Actually, Ambition Won't Get You That Far. You'll Shift Gears. You'll See Something That's Shinier. But If You Believe... Then You're The Long-distance Runner.