so -- and there's obama going like this. driving and i'm sure he'll remember that little -- the bumper car. in fact, i think he used that in a debate line in iowa, where they were kind of hammering him from both sides andy said well, you know, to prepare for these debates, i took a ride on the bumper cars. :

the certain way that i do what it gives you the perspective. many of the shots i taker panoramic views and when you want a panoramic shot you want to see the big view. the only way you can get the big year is two really looks to that class and so many ways. i live from the political left, and left from the political right here on a single day of my photographs john mccain and senator obama. so walk down that street. any street in your own neighborhood including streets that she might even be afraid to and drive down and go down the roads that say, do not enter. attend a religious mass that you don't know anything about and in doing that look back at your home town and you will see a much bigger picture, a snapshot of this place we call america.

it will make you a better citizen and also make you a better photographer. with my camera in hand and as my friend over 30 years, this is how i learned to appreciate this remarkable country. through the lens i understand what happened here mattered. and there are consequences that what began. 1776 and 1787. i was reading earlier this morning reminding myself of this thomas covina who broke the origins of scientific revolutions and this was an important concept or you introduced the term paradigm shift in the prior two his enunciating one a paradigm shift is or popularizing in it, we always thought that things changed in orderly way this, but

it basically doesn't. not only not in our personal life, say we have lost a job and suddenly we're forced to form something on the inside of us, but even as society's we change in fits and froze. a paradigm shifts happen and when things sometimes in crisis breakdown and other things emerge from it. that is one of the exciting things of the current economic situation is we don't know what is going to happen next. that is what we are all in the process of trading collectively, but basically if you look at the entire big picture, the roof top position that the second millennium, let's talk -- and your viewpoint, what are the most important things that happen in the second millennium. you can say christopher columbus that's a big thing or you can say possibly gutenberg creating the printing press, that's really a big bang. it still affects our world today, but i would suggest

that's the most important thing that reorder the world that we know and that created a revolution or an evolution of ways in thinking and how we restructure our civilization would be the beginnings of america in 1776 to 1787. this was possibly our destiny and one of the things that again, getting back to this personal journey of what are the clues that suggest there is order in our own life is that we look for things that kind of stickout. one of the things i really love it is july 4th. well, july 4th on a voice and it may even air on this day. i wasn't born on the fourth of july the way the film was, but interestingly enough a lot of people were either born or died on july 4th that really mattered. now, most of the u.s. as american history, civics and government teachers will

probably know that, of course, thomas jefferson and john adams both died within hours of each other on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. the other interesting back to about that i think is that you could ask how long was jefferson and adams and american citizen? there were no american citizens on july 3rd, 1776 cell mr. jefferson and mr. adams were both citizens for precisely to the day 50 years to the day. well, another one is now we talk about the top five founders in this case which was my interest because i am specifically attractive as an historian without the camera to the 1770 and 79 days' time because that is one of paradigm shifted. that is on the world changed. the other one that changed and died on july 4th was james

monroe. he not only died on july 4th, no one talks about poor mr. munro, they just want jefferson and adams -- it is like red meat for the founders. [laughter] so mr. monroe died on the 50th anniversary of the signing. it's almost as if the wheels of their death. then let's go to the father of the constitution, james madison. a short man but had a big life. he died on the 60th anniversary, not on july 4th. unfortunately he slightly messed, we know he really tried it. but he died on june 28 and june 28th is when the declaration of independence was submitted to the committee on that day so that is the true anniversary on that one. so there are many other people by the way born or data on those days. george w. bush just listed on

july 6th. at our lover of america also who would said the moment i heard the word america i loved her would be charles kuralt calvin coolidge was born on july 4th. neil simon, george steinbrenner, new york yankees, louis b. mayer who was born in russia but you basically embrace an american dream completely. but if we want to look for the golden thread, that connects us which i call the united states is us. what is the sticky idea that malcolm glad well talks about in the tipping point? i love this idea of sticky ideas. how does something stick to it yourself dealer makeup of your brain? well, this did the idea here that america is basically democracy. is the central organizing principle and if i wanted to create it my photosynthesis it would be democracy that i would

photograph. , but it is a conundrum. had you photograph an idea? my view it is the idea that is the principle, but really when you think about democracy it is a painting it would be the negative space, the -- is around the object but it is not in it so consequently had you photograph it meaning democracy? this was my challenge in doing the book. democracy is the canvas we paid our lives on the. is how we draw our family, our children, our buildings and our civilization's. but if it does not fit, how do i photographed it and this became the focus of my book. if democracy defines us than it is in our dna, it is in our cellular makeup. if i can focus that lands on the

expressions of democracy, i think i will have done it and that is what i've attempted to do. i've had many experiences and autographing the small towns, the games, the big cities. everything that really defines democracy. if i look at of the urban skyline, chicago is one of the cities that i focused on a -- invented the skyline in 1885. if i have to focus on the symbols that i would photograph the american icons. and i have to focus on the games of democracy i would not focus on tennis. if you really think about it tennis is a game that came from the aristocracy. it came from louie the tenth court games with his cryptic score in the 153040 love, it was exactly sign for the common man. the games of the common man are really baseball, football,

basketball and the games are usually with balls that role. [laughter] the other thing that i photograph that i think is relevant to democracy is even global warming. how can you say global warming is related democracy? the curious thing is here that it's basically something that is caused by all of us that affects all of us and ultimately it is cured by all thus. so in many respects global warming is heels and a democratic element that needs to be photographed and i did that in my book and i call it red white and green. i was fortunate to have some of those pictures in al gore's film it in inconvenient truth. ultimately the democratic expression is best i think accomplished by the race for the presidency. if you want to find a single of

an all-american as are joined together in a single exercise i kept thinking what is the one thing that we all do together? well, you can say that we all pay our taxes on april 15th. the son something really necessarily to celebrate. then when i started looking to april 15th that day has a bad vibes as we would sing california. the bad vibes are basically that abraham lincoln was assassinated on april 15th and also the titanic went down so i thought, i think it is basically going to be the photograph in of presidents. so when i started john was sometimes referred to me as possibly i was one other earlier citizen journalists but prior to the internet when i started photograph in america and needed to photograph presidents but unlike some of the people may be here i had had no press credentials to do so. and again i thought i have to

photograph presidents but i don't really have any press credentials -- time i going to get in. then there was one of those meaningful personal moments rely intervenes and suddenly your life is here. you know you're on the right track and what happened to me and my home in southern california in eight our time i get one phone call from my friend who lost a job who came up and got a new job and suddenly they were working for the chairman of the democratic national committee ron brown who became the secretary of commerce. she asked me, could you photograph some of the upcoming campaigns that ultimately that's how i became president clinton's photographer during the 1992 campaign in. then within hours later i got another phone call from the horatio alger foundation also in washington d.c. from the close up foundation and they asked me would i be so kind to photograph

president reagan when he was coming out to southern california and also back in washington d.c.. so in a single day i had my breakthrough and since then i never stopped photograph in. every president from jimmy carter to currently president obama. so finally and was like to start to wrap this up where if all roads lead to democracy ultimately the journey would take me to charlottesville to monticello. for years i have heard about this amazing american immigration ceremony on july 4th in front of monticello. there would be 76 new citizens taking the oath of allegiance so i approached jefferson's dome, i couldn't help but think of thomas jefferson in paris where in 1786 instead of being in philadelphia helping to read the constitution he assigned almost

his buddy, james madison, to do so. he was walking around and on a single day he fell in love twice in one day, once with a woman, the famous english -- not english artist, marie karzai, and also he encountered a with a john trumbull recommended seeing the famous dome, the hotel the solid -- excuse my french but i am from the midwest. so anyway, he stated that dome and stared at the dome and ultimately his love for emery fell by the wayside over time. but his love for the dome ultimately became the first residential home in the united states when he built that at monticello. and curiously it had 13 skylights. it reminded me that freemasons from jefferson to franklin, they all loved all things 13a.

i even noticed the national press club is on the 13th floor. and if you look at, this is a visual aid now, the dollar bill, i know it is much smaller from back there and perhaps it is deflationary or inflation, we are not sure. [laughter] but it does look smaller from afar but virtually everything in this dollar bill if you look at it, the pyramid on its -- you can do this at home -- and there is an all seeing eye on the top of it, 12 players that lead up to that high, there are 30 narrows, there are 13 in all of leaves symbolizing the peace, he pluribus a modem, at of many comes a one is in 13 letters, in god we trust -- every single thing in here is encoded in 13. of the founders love 13 and they would not understand our phobia for the 13 floors with the exception of the national press

club were taking the 13th floor of airplanes frequently they used to do that out. are even our obsession or phobia about fretted the 13th. they would even do what i was photographing at monticello the 76 sissons. they would gather and look at the numerology. you just take the numbers and add the amount -- seven plus six equal 13. well, where this leading is that mr. jefferson as did franklin extrapolated that for every 19 years there is a new generation of americans born. every 19 years. and if you will supply that on july 4th, 2005 the day i was walking up to the dome to photograph the 76 citizens, we became at that point all of us

became the 13th generation of americans since the founding of the revolution. this is the original american dream. again, the math is 19 times 12 ultimately july 4th on mr. jefferson's death in day anniversary, we became the 13th generation. so the question would be, what will we do to pass on to the 14th generation? to replenish what will become hours whether we are as teachers, parents or myself as well historians -- is our challenge to pass the torch on. and i guess as teachers how would you pass this on to a generation that is somewhat preoccupied with ipod's, text messaging? how do we make this matter to our children? that is the big question i think

for myself as parents and as teachers. one of the things i really thought about it is how you instill in someone that tomorrow matters? well, one of the ways is to remember that you will be presiding in that tomorrow and how they passed that on is basically our challenge. later that day i drove on to washington d.c. but, again we're talking july 4th, 2005, to rendezvous with this gentleman sitting over here, john, and he even reverse this. he had staked out, he is my stake out guide -- the exact spot because again photography is about alignment. you want to align different elements so that you can get the shot. and there is a spot and maybe sam will show you along the potomac where the three monuments all line up. and that is what the shot, that

you can't be too far this way or too far that way. has to be right there. of this was my spot and that was the spot i was looking for and john stake it out amongst 100 of a deep into a thousand people. noaa and as i walked to the crown there was a band playing and as of the band played one of them, they had america the beautiful appropriately on july july 4th and i started to look at it. again impartially the sense of my own destiny, i started focusing on america. now you might say maybe the lemonade was bite, but suddenly another anagram appears -- america, the letters started moving around and all of a sudden i can see, you can try this at home, america spells as an anagram -- i embrace. it again if you move them are run into this on paper america

spells by emma race. and as i walked to the crowd and saw virtually every human you can possibly think of i was reminded of herman melville's quote -- hour blood is as the blood of the amazon, made up of a thousand billable france all pouring into one. we are not a nation so much as a world. so there i was with the monuments in front of me as the fireworks exploded over the city that jefferson partially inspired, tens of thousands of images that i have taken all in my book here, across the 50 states, started racing through my mind. i thought of all the skylines, i thought of the president's, i thought of macy's day parade, the rose bowl parade, the small towns, the farms, where i grew up of route 66. allen did all these 76 new american citizens and as of the

fireworks climaxed i realize that for me my journey to capture and to photograph democracy could never be taken as a single image. it never be accomplished in a single iconic moment. instead in my portrait of democracy would be an gigantic mosaic. if you think back to your art history and think of pointless some each single little got if you look at every single little thought it doesn't tell anything. tell you back up and you get that bird's-eye view. if you look down and suddenly all those dog start to come together to create a larger vision of america. we are all docks and the 1300 pitchers that appear in my book basically began as a singular vision of america, but the

khatami,, what i came away with is that basically it is not my vision of america. it is a plural because its visions of america. because you and i are part of that mosaic so every time you take a picture and when you go back home or are in washington d.c. you to our photograph in democracy and of what i would like to say is that what i saw then and what i see today matters. when you go back home and you remember what you saw in washington d.c. that you share with some of your pitchers then to tutt until your photo history but specifically when you get home also now want you to tell everybody that she met jo shmo and he took her picture. at all like to finish with a picture of you because you are the subject of this talk. okay, so everybody smile. [laughter]

always remember to turn the camera on a. [laughter] okay, thank you very much. [applause] if anybody has any questions i would be happy to answer them. >> where are you going to start getting pictures for your talk? >> well, i am currently, i have colleges and universities are always interested in also starting in my home town in ohio, california so my first one is going to be july 4th ironically. i have been giving them along the way but this is kind of kicking it off. the challenge here is sort of like if you are yo-yo ma and

asked to do a talk on music but she could not bring your cello, that was kind of my challenge here because i would have preferred to show you visuals on a video screen, but unfortunately that was not the case. it basically coerce me to think about what is that i wanted to share and how i have been framed photographs of the with the founder's framed ids. any other questions about ethics stops or shutter speed? [laughter] >> is there one photograph that you had planned something out and was totally surprised and became sort of a favorite of yours? >> well, that is like if you have five children and your asked to is your favorite child. so i think i recall shooting the

ticker-tape parade in new york city which was easier to do because you could do without press credentials. as the soldiers and seemed like half the u.s. army was marching down broadway, they were coming at me and ticker tape was coming down and some of the shots are in my book but the shot i remember was turning around to see where i was walking backwards and suddenly there was a single american flag hanging on the site of a building surrounded enshrouded by thousands of little tiny pieces of tape. there's one other one and this is not a cheap plug either, but ironically this picture on the cover i had to think of tens of thousands of pictures, which pitcher do you put on the front of the book? and the reason i thought of this

is number one the u.s. capitol, they have done studies is the most famous building in the world. number two, it is the number one a symbol of democracy. zero and number three, the red, white and blue balloons which in the event for this was president reagan speaking for the bicentennial of the constitution. and possibly john was there, but the unusual thing about this is in this has now been deemed environmentally incorrect. [laughter] there are no red, white and blue balloons that are allowed to do that. the photo op as you would say is basically i did not have press credentials to get a close to get the shot of president reagan. sow that is bill little less than live with which seems to be an asset so they stuck me back

away in the rear. i had no idea the blows are going to go off and then when they started going up and said the whole sky became red and white and blue and the u.s. capitol and all the guys that are really close the pros on reagan did not get that shot. so what then became a liability became probably my top-selling photograph. in so many respects maybe my favorite photograph is the one on the cover. >> you were talking about when you were in iowa with president obama back in the spring in. when you are following in individual and issued an individual are you able to feel -- how much of it goes into the camera and how much of it can you stay in touch with the person you're taking pictures of war is that impossible to do? >> in terms of picking of their

personality? >> yes. >> well, certain personalities are completely comfortable having glass or lenses in front of them and senator obama is obviously one of those people. in fact, in the first four minutes of being at the fair this is my favorite story, i haven't spoken to a lot -- there is a protocol when you carry a camera. if you are in a room with three photographers and the president is not my job to speak with them. i would love to talk to them but actually president obama is one of the few people the spoke to me. within three minutes of being there he spoke to me and my friends say what did he say. and he said get off my chair. [laughter] that is an exact quote. that you can tell how articulate

and directing is. [laughter] because particularly i am looking for the best shot. so consequently if you're looking at a table and there is one and a share i will shoot that bird's-eye view looking down. that is my favorite you pointed. because that is where he is supposed to sit. but anyway, i did find that many of of the use ronald reagan, the camera becomes second nature to them and president clinton i have got maybe one of the largest collections private individual time magazine in new york times would have we more than i do but in terms of as an individual i have thousands of shots of president and secretary of commerce, senator hillary clinton as well, and i have to say that the personality came across