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 More Quotes by Sam Abell More Quotes From Sam Abell 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. Sam Abell parent doors believe I had luck, but I worked hard and I suffered. It's not just photography I'm talking about. It's about whatever dream you want it to be. Sam Abell photography dream talking The unusual wins out over the usual. Sam Abell unusual usual winning The longer we lived with it the more we wanted something less about process and more about life. Sam Abell process wanted The best lesson I was given is that all of life teaches, especially if we have that expectation. Sam Abell lessons photographer expectations In almost every photograph I have ever made, there is something I would do to complete it. I take that to be the spirit hole or the deliberate mistake that's in a Navajo rug to not be godlike, but to be human. Sam Abell photographer spirit mistake My father taught me photography. It was his hobby, and we had a small darkroom in the fruit cellar of our basement. It was the kind of makeshift darkroom that was only dark at night. Sam Abell photography dark father It's a little bit like talking about the life of writing. The life of writing may be about many things, but it always begins with the writer. With the kernel of an idea, or a character, or an idea or a theme, or even an outcome. But for documentary photographers, photographs begin at that intersection of the real world and the imaginative inner world. Sam Abell real writing character There are a lot of ways to talk about the life of a photograph. You can talk about the afterlife of a photograph, and in the end I talk about that, with the Richard Prince picture. But mainly, what I dedicated the book to being about was how photographs begin their life, and where they begin it. And they begin it with the photographer's imagination and instinct and experience. Sam Abell afterlife imagination book My connection to Santa Fe is very closely, and continuously a connection with Reid. I believe in him and his philosophy of photographic education. Sam Abell santa-fe philosophy believe Even though I teach with 35mm, my method takes people by surprise, because it isn't fast, and it isn't about hardware or software, or even great results. It's about great process. Sam Abell surprise process people I did it once, and National Geographic recruited me. I did it primarily out of curiosity. A lot of legendary photographers had worked on that campaign. Ernst Haas had done the early photography, and I knew him. There's a lore in photography about that campaign, and I was curious. Sam Abell campaigns curiosity photography There are things that I teach, about building photographs, and that's why people come to my workshops. When people come to the workshops, they're consumed with seeking the subject, and I teach seeking the setting. Sam Abell building photograph people 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. Sam Abell cowboy artist years 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. Sam Abell hardest-job jobs years I will just say, appropriation is an intellectual idea until it happens to you. It's a philosophy, and it's got its own intellectual framework. Then there's what happens when it's your photograph. Then it's personal, and that's all I'll say. Sam Abell intellectual philosophy ideas The reason I don't want to say anything about it is it has a strange power to take over the conversation. Just like it's doing with us. I was asked to participate in a documentary about Richard Prince, and be the voice of someone who was appropriated, and I declined. The reason I did is I don't want it to be the subject of the discussion of my work. Sam Abell voice say-anything want I would like to go to Antarctica. That's about all. Sam Abell antarctica I'm very involved in photographing America now, so I don't think of faraway places, as I did when I was young. Sam Abell young america thinking I now want to be a photographer of my time, and our common culture. Sam Abell want common culture
