[In the late 80's] that's the first time I heard about that astonishing idea [that most photographs would be taken on telephones]. And now I've been watching the tsunami of images. Sam Abell More Quotes by Sam Abell More Quotes From Sam Abell Photographs that transcend but do not deny their literal situation appeal to me. Sam Abell deny photography photographer 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. Sam Abell parent sound home For spiritual companions I have had the many artists who have relied on nature to help shape their imagination. And their most elaborate equipment was a deep reverence for the world through which they passed. Photographers share something with these artists. We seek only to see and to describe with our own voices, and, though we are seldom heard as soloists, we cannot photograph the world in any other way. Sam Abell photography artist spiritual 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. Sam Abell photography spiritual philosophy 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. Sam Abell simplicity photography special Editorial photography has to be energetic and visually competitive. Sam Abell editorials energetic photography There are grander and more sublime landscapes - to me. There are more compelling cultures. But what appeals to me about central Montana is that the combination of landscape and lifestyle is the most compelling I've seen on this earth. Small mountain ranges and open prairie, and different weather, different light, all within a 360-degree view. Sam Abell mountain-ranges compelling-reason light There isn't an aspect of book creation I don't enjoy, and there has always been a book in my life to dream about or work on. Sam Abell photographer dream book I have this awareness that the more dynamic the situation is, the more on guard I need to be that the dynamic isn't controlling the situation. I found that myself in the Galapagos. For the first time in my life I was around very exotic animals, colorful, beautiful, and immediately present, all around. Birds, turtles, iguanas, seals. I was being seduced by their exoticism, I was taking pictures.The pictures weren't well lit, there was no moment in play, there was no depth to the pictures. I was just gawking with my camera at something I'd never seen before. Sam Abell turtles animal beautiful And that desire-the strong desire to take pictures-is important. It borders on a need, based on a habit: the habit of seeing. Whether working or not, photographers are looking, seeing, and thinking about what they see, a habit that is both a pleasure and a problem, for we seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel. It is the hope that we might express ourselves fully-and the evidence that other photographers have done so-that keep us taking pictures. Sam Abell photography strong thinking I wanted life to be episodic. I wanted to be a magazine photographer and I was willing to do what it took to become that. Sam Abell magazines photographer wanted For sheer majestic geography and sublime scale, nothing beats Alaska and the Yukon. For culture, Japan. And for all-around affection, Australia. Sam Abell alaska japan australia There's a great quote about Virginia Woolf, she had the same spiritual stake in her diaries as she had in her writing. Sam Abell virginia spiritual writing I was known as a 35-mm photographer with a view-camera mentality. Sam Abell cameras photographer views ...just like some people's instinct to photograph is triggered by vacation... assignments might be that to me and that's why I've built my life around assignments. That was the way to live the photographic life. Sam Abell vacation way-to-live people 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. Sam Abell luck book thinking Aboriginal Australia is a tough place to work, rough and tough. Sam Abell rough tough australia My parents, grandmother and brother were teachers. My mother taught Latin and French and was the school librarian. My father taught geography and a popular class called Family Living, the precursor to Sociology, which he eventually taught. My grandmother was a beloved one-room school teacher at Knob School, near Sonora in Larue County, Ky. Sam Abell brother mother teacher My dad had been an ardent amateur photographer, and he taught me to compose a photograph from the back to the front, and then populate the picture. Sam Abell taught dad photographer 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. Sam Abell distance ambition believe
