catch-22 so what you do, don't do anything, he epstein's which in my mind is an only time i have ever seen him abstain from anything which is kind of ironic. and dickinson of sense for that -- they both are opposed to independence so it is three to two. pennsylvania comes on born july 19th new york comes on board -- and never use the declaration of independence saying the unanimous declaration, that was not printed on july 4th because it was a unanimous, they didn't have a york. they were actually printed up on august 2nd so they could change the wording. see how technical and gets -- with the soaring its richer when you follow it in all these individual mod of actions and what people are really doing.

check this out -- the next item after the declaration of independence is entered in the congressional journal on july july 4th, i don't have the exact words but it is about robert morris dealing with some as a charity from the supply and the soldiers and he is not even the moral one. he is not the man of the people of magoo shows you what -- so many stories i could go on forever. i really urge you to conjure your own favorite patriot. as you read this book. read the book and sort of, a lot of people know a little about one person or another, put your person in their because it is all by dateline. what will my person contribute? if we all put people in the of the store will go from this to that the and just opened the inquiry. and my sense is that as the

alternate patriotic story. [applause] thank-you. >> ray raphael is also the author of a "a people's history of the ameican revolution" and "founding myths". it for more information and visit ray raphael.com. this summer booktv is asking, what are you reading? >> elmore leonard has a new novel out and george pellicano is has a new novel out so i am reading some novels. i am listening on recorded books driving over here and listen going back to the history of jacksonian america call awakening giant telmex there are

predictions that books might go the way of news and that is all digital. >> the candle is out there, i tend to like the feel of a book, but that i am a fossil. >> to see more summer book programs visit our web site at booktv.org. >> joseph sohm explores themes of democracy through his photography collection, "visions of america", the collection spans 30 years of his career and was shot in of 50 states. this talk from the national press club in washington d.c. was hosted by the close up foundation. >> hi, everybody. i got to see when rose asked who has been here before so i want to say to those of you who are veterans of the close up foundation welcome back in those of you who are in new welcome

aboard. i'm sure all of you know or you wouldn't be here that close-up remains of the gold standard for civic education in washington d.c. so thank you for participating. and going to introduce you to a gentleman who like me has been associated with close up foundation over many years. joseph sohm has been called many things some of which are repeatable even though we have a camera in the room. [laughter] but a photographer is the thing he is referred to the most and that begins to tell the story but doesn't really tell the story. a story may be the operative word because if you're trying to really distill this, joe is a storyteller, the pictures are part of the presentation but there's a lot more going on than just the pictures and the project you'll hear about today certainly illustrates that and yet he is a storyteller his story is of america. joe is in love with america, not just in that sort of been patriotic type of presentation we see where you put mass-produced bobber stickers on

your car, in a very deep way and historical way in a way that looks at both the promise of america and the challenges of america and the accomplishments of america. he is one of you -- joe began his career as an american history teacher and was in the classroom. he had the itch to have a better class i think and have this photography hobby and turned that into a career. joe is a bit of a cornball and i'm sorry but it is true and with his name he used to call your show business, osama bin and [laughter] it gets worse. and the mobile home he traveled around america he called the carona homa -- you to know when to stop. during those journeys he covered all 50 states, every iconic image of america and the senate can think of has been seen through his viewfinder initially recorded on film, now the entire library has been a shot in

digital panoramic. without even knowing it, you have seen hundreds of joseph sohm images. i can say this with confidence although there are no specific official statistics to support this joe is the most accomplished photographer of american iconography in the history of america and his catalog is distributed worldwide and images shown everywhere. joe will open a magazine and his images will be there with his shot there, his agency is to read them so they turn up everywhere. it is great to sit and a receiver the latest check comes from. some of the things have changed technologically have actually changed the business dramatically but his images are published over 10,000 times a year. websites, newspapers, periodicals, a tv film, you name it are some of the places, and some of them more high-profile, in al gore's film inconvenient truth and official scorecard of

at the olympic team, and khosa publications of for all we know he has generously contributed his library of charge to close up over the years and is a match made in heaven based on the things he photographs. when i interviewed him at the museum a year ago when asked how he describes himself, he used the term of a historian and i finally had a term of joe that made sense. he never really left the classroom and i suggest that he will hold this book up and it takes to arms because it is a weighty tome -- year it is, "visions of america: photographing democracy". essentially joe's mission has continued to a fall and it went from sort of photographs and the veneer, the iconic superficial images of america to thinking about the idea, photographs and democracy and that's what he's attempting to do in a significant project. the book is just part of it.

in his new format includes a symphony, original music, the prototype premiered in philadelphia a couple months ago and it is an all-star cast of contributors. the book has 21 and says, was brought to life in this symphony, peter nero and the philadelphia pops play the music so you have a grammy award winning composer and musician at the helm. the original music score was written by roger calloway -- any jazz fans and a group? roger is a legendary jazz pianist and performer and tolerant with tony bennett, wrote the theme to of the family in popular culture and roger composed the original score and performed live in the award winning musical team of alan and marilyn bergman, wrote original songs performed by grammy winner patti austin. the only person on stage without a grammy or academy was joseph sohm but there is time, joe.

so desperate for a week in philadelphia and now is being refined to become a national and even international tour along with the book. it is the latest iteration of joe's classroom work, his telling of a story of america and so in addition to those projects is one to begin a national speaking tour and kicks that often they with you so without further ado allow me to introduce writer, producer, storyteller, photographer and a jack of all trades, joseph sohm. [applause] >> midafternoon, it is still mourning for maine. i just flew in from california where i reside and dodged a few fires on the way in an earthquake that was centered in the town i live and so is very nice to be in washington d.c.. i want to thank john for the gracious introduction. mostly i want to thank him for browsing my name right.

this has come a been a problem most of my right were my name is pronounced selma, it is joseph sohm and occasionally i will be asked to speak at an event and recently it was an event called the food chain and unfortunately the person that filled the little nine current like many of you have on your neck was slightly dyslexic -- i have all the right letters but they weren't in the right sequence and i'd been into why they go views rather than closeups, excuse the pun, i basically didn't look at the tag. well, number one coming you should always look your tag so when i picked it up and was to write letters -- [laughter] -- if you look closely and dispel the as hmo so very strongly i put my tag on and then part of the conference

people walked up to me and said hey joe schmo, what do know. [laughter] so after a while i thought, my god, you could make this up, this is completely absurd. other people are calling each of the photographer but that guy is more ball than i am. you can call me joe, i am the eyes of the common man. i'm honored to be part of your close-up view of the nation's capital and i understand most of you just arrived in the last day or two. have any of you -- what have you seen so far? can you tell me? if me an idea? >> washington monument. >> when do you plan to see? or should i ask sam when he is going to show you? >> capitol hill. >> when you go back home with their students, without, with

your children or your parents or friends, how you thank you will take this home with you? how will you share it? >> in pictures. >> that's exactly the point in this is one of the reasons i do what i love big has tried to love the american story but i like to tell lies the story with a camera at exhibit edie. so like you and when john was saying, i was a former teacher, not a farmer but eight former teacher -- that is a midwestern accent if you didn't notice. [laughter] i was in american history teacher but basically i was more in love with the story of america and i had more interest in the philosophy of america and ultimately i learned from actually jon's wife if you are a teacher you're not supposed to smile until january.

[laughter] and was less a person for giving discipline and more a person that required much discipline so consequently and was looking for a larger classroom and today that is what my project is called -- "visions of america" -- and the totals can be found that can be found not only publish in textbooks and i his scenes put really across not only the united states but the world about specifically in this book and i should say if you are interested in the book is too heavy to carry with you on the plane so it does come with a small fire practice gives in to get in case you throw up part of your back. it is a pounds and in the new economic reality of spending one of the best ways to market was not by in seven or $5 price tag by the price per picture. so i basically came up i think it is $0.07 a picture so if you want picture cut that out

[laughter] so as john was describing i consider myself a feminist historian and specifically instead of a pan i use the camera as my tool. i tell the story of america and printers and most recently in various ways in music, images in this project. in fact, recently those looking at a sign in a camera store which basically then deposit most of my revenue and i was looking at the word camera and then i was going, now i'm from california so you have to process this, basically a furious scramble those letters it is almost an anagram -- camera almost spells america. you can try this at home, you can spell it out. the only thing is missing is the i. the eye of the camera. so i figured the camera was a great way for me to tell the

story of america. i'm particularly attractive to the marquis de lafayette quote -- the moment i heard america i loved her. and as john said that can be a bumper sticker or a can be a profound love and i think as you come to washington d.c. you will come to love her as well. i also have a belief in personal destiny and it is not in a karma way or in a religious way but it is more like i guess you'd say metaphorically michelangelo that would see a sculpture in this piece of marble. i think in your own life if you have the sense of your own purpose that you can kind of a eek out in the path that takes you where you want to go. mind you, as i told you in front of the classroom while i was comfortable moving my jaws up and down, i clearly didn't feel like that was the particular

place i should be in order to be in that classroom and as a teacher some of the you i know our government teachers and others cover civics which unfortunately is not as often covered in schools as it could be and should be and also american history, but basically the story of what america is in of those details in the book and i have to find my trail so my personal pitch real and personal story began on the banks of the mississippi on route 66 in these are the clues of how you find your purpose. so my purpose was where i was born. i was born in st. louis in a small town called webster groves and ironically in the town i it grow up, they actually 60 minutes -- not 60 minutes -- cbs

isolated and my community as a most typical community in the united states. there must be something here, i am typical after all. after all i am not joe schmo. [laughter] the eyes of the common man. so consequently they went on and actually bought my first house and will coming years later at a on a house with jefferson county and at that time it was actually geographically the population center of the united states. so now the story is emerging -- we have the eye of america with a camera with the most typical community in america growing up in the banks of the mississippi and he is named joe show. the story starts to emerge. the west or the river separates the east from the west frequently one of the things i like about it, when you grow up there you can attest to this coming is that basically this:

the last city of the east or the first city of the west. that is why the bank a great arch is a bare. so if joe schmo robins a louis i guess you could say in a sort of like for superman came from which is script on. so we would specialize as a youth of route 66 of getting lost, that was my sole purpose. getting lost and then ultimately not doing a very good job of it because it ultimately on my way home and ultimately found my way back to washington d.c., but this became almost an obsession in my youth and it became an obsession as i'm embarrassed to say in adult to appear and i spend more time getting lost the most of the people have been around a. so, in fact, that almost became a daily commute. this was my destination or no destination adderall and this is where i find my post. these are easy to find.

you know the jefferson memorial is and the world war ii more lives, you also know the u.s. capitol is and will know where the lincoln memorial is because sam and others will take you there. but many of the photos that i take are what you'd call found america -- i find it in the most unexpected places like just a day and given e-mail coming in -- i have scouts and this one, there was going to be a police ceremony pretty fallen officer. well, i have all of -- photograph those before were hundreds of officers lined up and it's a moving experience but today i was told look in the sky and there would be a helicopters flying over the city. someplace over washington there was. so to be a good historian is two basically walk and you live through a viewfinder which is what i do you and in a camera is

not at my face basically my gut instinct is i am on the search looking for. whether it is the u.s. capitol i am for autographing or possibly a man sleeping on a the streets under the u.s. capitol, not completely in rio, where you place the camera is basically the story you can tell and that is this like to repeat of the autograph and when i can say. every day and go out on of quote shoot. my fill is a memory. cameron is my eyes and my years. they ain't what jefferson said in, learning is a lifelong inventor, is such a journey i want to enjoy. if read my success or failure as a retired ford depends upon the condition of where our nation

came from and where we're going. as a protohistory and an aide to anticipate, and i want to shoot a baseball game 2i think the police are going to win or the yankees are going to win? but when i photographed last year the opening game of all the major leagues in the united states i had a gut instinct that it was the phillies' so fortunately a photograph of the phillies opening game and then ultimately went on to photograph them again and dodgers stadium during the national league finals. it's the same with the cherry blossoms -- i called up john and the times, he is one of my scouts and said one of the cherry blossoms going to bloom -- no one knows, the cherry blossoms are scheduled for april april 1st or around that date and it is the same with the autumn leaves of new england. frequently i have found the league's honda was changing on time, but you try to anticipate the shot. the same thing with presidential candidates, which is going to

win, will you of your camera, who will you spend your time with? do unto others on the guy who is going to finish second or third or fourth or do want to pick the guy who's going to win? fortunately when i photographed in des moines, iowa state fair which is a great place to photograph a candidate's because in essence and i come to you, that is one of my great metaphors of following basketball as michael jordan said in. when he was under he would take the shots, when he got older he let the shot come to him. so it was very obvious during this presidential campaign in that we were in a sea change in and frontier. so i tended to focus on senator obama unfortunately when i went to a good des moines state fair for the iowa state fair as it is called, i have not been there for probably 40 seconds and

there was senator obama standing rigidly right in front of me. at that time it wasn't two under 50 photographers, it was only seven or nine guys so fortunately that is one of the things of that to do in taking pictures. not only do you learn to focus, take a shot, but also you learn when you are shooting presidential candidates to walk backwards really well but you have to be able to walk backwards while changing lenses play in this way and at the same time without stepping in front of another retire over who will swatch you on the back of your balls what if you do. many of my images are these six locations which i would call in my book i call the mirror icon and one of the reasons i was really drawn to the iconic america or mirror icons was that when you really think about it

when the united states started in 17771780 use her was no word to memorial and zero iconic elements and our founders had the vision that democracy or the public as we know it, that we need to create the symbols of what this is and what we represent and how you represent we the people. after all france has burst thy coming england had its coat of arms, all nations and different ways of symbolizing their belief system but we have virtually nothing. we barely had a flag. fortunately for ben franklin he didn't get his will and everything because he did propose the turkey as a national symbol. i think the ball the eagle was a much better choice. in fact, the eagle you'll see in my pictures actually has a name,

this is an ego were you get closeups and i had to get a model release. we call it an neagle release in the trade it. he is called a tube. [laughter] his name is challenger and ended noticed in the presidential inaugural day showed old challenger. i found him at dolly parton, dolly would, and i went to dollar would because i thought that was part of americana and they had any legal refuge location their. till and joe was there and apparently he was shot out of an airplane, not a good way to end up in federal penitentiary if you do that. but anyway i photographed him is over the years i have been kind of picking my way trying to get iconic america. one of my best sources possibly mount rushmore. going there early in the morning at 5:00 a.m. to get your tripod spot, you think everything is completely said, there isn't a

tourist in sight. the sun is coming up and going to hit all four presidents perfectly, the hours go by and i bring up more cameras and tripods, more equipment, wait and wait and suddenly the first caller starts to hit george washington parke in granite and then it is hitting jefferson but not having the other two because they are all living in the shadows of george washington. i guess you could say that of work as well. so in photography that's not a good thing. ideally you want even lighting, you what lighting on all four of them are none of them but not just to of the four so i wait and wait another point slide is likely going to it golden which is what you want and slightly to yellow and then suddenly this guy is turning blue and the magic moment is just being lost. but at a certain point there are all four presidents.

i am chairing -- i have given a day and half from denver to get to south dakota to get this shot into this when i think everything is right in i go, all i need is one eighth of a second and i have a shot and i will be on my way to the next location. at that point when you think nothing can go wrong can always something will. at that point somebody walks out on the top of lincoln's head the. i did not even know the to get on the top of lincoln's head of. [laughter] so i am watching this little thought and, of course, he doesn't have a green t-shirt on, he has an orange t-shirt and is in the book by the way. i was so upset -- it was so absurd i had to photograph him so this little person is walking on the top and i thought it is lincoln and he has an orange is it on him or something. [laughter] so at that point i kind of channelled might enter new yorker and i said i am not going to wait another 24 hours for

another day to get this mount rushmore shot, not too many tourists were around so i said, please get off abraham lincoln said. i'm taking a picture of. so at that point the park ranger heard what i was saying, he was very upset, he walks up to me and he says -- excuse me, sir,, that's not going to happen anytime soon. that is the superintendent of the national parks in charge of every park west of the mississippi river. [laughter] so what can you do? i waited for him to get off and ultimately he stepped around the u.s. out of shot out of sight and in a the second i had the shot. pack up the cameras and i will out of their but i will always remember that superintendent and i'm sure he will remember me to. other shots that i take our ordinary and i would say i specialize in photograph in the ordinary america on an ordinary day. this is where joe show comes in.

because it is through the lens were in is frequently a bird's eye lens, i look for the daily things that shout out here is america. mine lands might focus on this homeless man in beverly hills that i got were in beverly hills you are not homeless for too long in if you are you move to santa monica, that basically i found a homeless man sleeping under the beverly hills bank. so i laid down in history to get eye level with him because the shot was basically, many of these shots, this is not specifically -- mrs. object directive but others are just positions. in is the irony you are looking for. a homeless man underneath one of the richest areas in the united states in beverly hills. it seemed kind of unusual to me. i came five minutes -- five minutes later he was gone probably on his way to senate

monica which is very accepting of all people. other shaw's are simply driving around in stonington, maine, my favorite dining fishing village in maine. it takes a drive off route one to get there and and again there the sunlight is coming up and, of course, a magic hour is always when i'm looking for. the first two hours of sunrise and the last two hours but there is a last moment to use the very old man walking out on his porch putting up an american flag and then the flag goes up, that is the shot, it shouts this is america. for another shot and i am a photograph in senator obama of that time soon to be president obama, he is eating a corn dog and then also try a brummer car. with the little girls. and there is obama going like this driving and i'm sure he will remember that a bumper car.

in fact, i think he used to that in a debate line in iowa where they were kind of hammering him from both sides and he said to prepare for these debates i took a ride in the bumper cars. but again you have to anticipate the shot. these shots you don't have to anticipate -- you'll have to look for the lighting. so in my search for america basically with the camera from not here to tell you whether the metaphorical class that i looked through is half full or half empty, but i am suggesting that as you walk through your daily america were ever that is weather in florida or in california that to look through the glass or the lens and you take this purpose i view that i do and you look and that glass inside out, outside in. you get down on the ground, you look from the rooftop. i love rooftops, that is why i

live there are lots of talks, their role is sitting at the top of the trees looking down. i guess to say i like looking down the people and certainly i do. because it gives you the perspective. many of the shots i take are panoramic views and when you want a panoramic shot you want to see the ping view and the only way you can get the big view is two really look through that glass in some a different way as. i live from the political left and the political right. on a single day and i photographed john mccain and senator obama. so walk down that street. industry in your own aaron including streets to might even be afraid to and drive down and go down the rows that they do not enter. attend a religious mass that you don't know anything about in the ensuing 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 better citizen and make you a better photographer. and with my camera in hand and as my friend and over 30 years this is how i appreciate this remarkable country. through a lens i understand what happened here matter and there are consequences that what began. 177-61-1787 and was reading earlier this morning reminding myself of thomas q1, a hero to the origins of scientific revolutions and this was an important concept where he introduced the term paradigm shift and prior two his enunciating what a paradigm shift is were popularizing it we always thought that things changed in orderly waves but basically it doesn't not in our

personal life say we have lost a job and suddenly we're forced to find somebody on the inside. even as societies we change in fits and froze and paradigm shifts happen when things sometimes in crisis bring down and other things emerge and as one of the exciting things in of the current economic situation is we don't know what is going to happen next. we're all in the process of operating collectively, but basically if you like the entire big picture, the rooftop position, that the second millennium, a thousand your viewpoint -- one of the most important things that happened in the second millennium? you to say christopher columbus, that's a big thing, or you could say possibly gutenberg training the printing press, that's really a big thing and still lacks our world today, but i would suggest that the most important thing that a reporter

in the world that we know and that created a revolution for an evolution of ways and thinking in 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 and getting back to this personal journey of what are the clues that suggest there is order in our own line of is that we look for things that kind of stickout had one of the things i really love is july 4th. july 4th have a voice and, in fact, made an error on the say so 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 view 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 fact about that i think is such you could ask how long was jefferson and adams an american citizen -- there were no american citizens on july 3rd, 1776, so mr. jefferson and mr. adams for both citizens for precisely to the day 50 years to the day. well, another one is we talk about top five founders in this case which was my interest because i am specifically attractive as an historian without the camera to that 1770, 1780, 79 this time because that is on the paradigm shift it, that is when the world changed. the other one that changed and died on july 4th was james monroe. he not only died on july 4th,

now talks about poor mr. munro, they just want jefferson and adams, it is like red meat for the founders. [laughter] so monroe died on the 50th anniversary of the signing. it is almost as if they wield their death. okay, well then let's go to some of 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 slightly mess and we all know he really tried. [laughter] but he died on june 28 and that is one of the declaration of independence was submitted to the committee and soon on that day. so that is the true anniversary on that one so there are many other people born or data on those days. george w. bush dismissed it on july 6th, our lover of america

also who would say the moment i heard the word america i love you're 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 to basically embraced in the american dream completely , but if we want to live for the golden thread that connects us which i call the united states is us. but is the sticky idea that malcolm glad well talks about in the tubing point? i love this idea of sticky ideas -- how does something stick to your cellular makeup of your brain? well, the sticky idea in america is basically democracy. it is the central organizing principle and i want to created by photosynthesis would be democracy of photograph. but it is a conundrum.

how do you photograph an idea? mind you, it is in the idea that is the central organizing principle, but really when you think about democracy if it is a painting it would be the negative space, the -- -- it is around the object is not in it so consequently how do you photographed it? meeting democracy. this was my challenge in doing the book. democracy is the canvas we pay their lives on. it is how we draw our family, our children, our buildings, our civilization. but if it is not yet how do i photographed it and this became the focus of my book. if democracy it defines more than it is in our dna and cellular makeup. if i can focus in that sense on and the expressions of democracy i think i will have done it and

that is what i have attempted to do. i have had many experiences in photograph ping the small towns, the games, the big cities, everything that really defines democracy. if i look at the urban skyline from chicago is one of the cities that focused on and that invented the skyline in 1885. if i have to focus on the symbols that i would photograph of the american icons. and i have to focus on the games of democracy and wouldn't focus on tennis. i really think about it, tennis's a game of them came from the aristocracy, it came from of the with the intent court games. with his cryptic scoring of 15 -- 30 -- 40 -- love. it was exactly designed for the common man. the games of the common man are really baseball, football, basketball -- the games with usually balls that role.

[laughter] the other thing that i photograph that is relative to democracy is even global warming. how can use a global warming is related to democracy? the curious thing is here that is basically something that is caused by all of us that affects all of us and ultimately its cure is by all less so in many respects global warming is the old and a democratic element that needs to be photographed and i did that in my book and call the red, white and green. i was fortunate to have some of those pictures in al gore's film in income the truth. ultimately the democratic expression is best i think i accomplished by the race for the presidency. if you want to find a single event or all americans are joined together in a single

exercise, i kept thinking what is the one thing we all do together? well, you can say that we all paid taxes on april 15th. that is of something really necessarily to celebrate. then when i started to look into april 15th that day has a bad time as we would send 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 and a president's so when i started john would sometimes referred to me as possibly i was one of the earlier citizen journalists prior to the internet when i started my exercise of phonograph in america among that i needed to photograph president's but unlike some of the people may be here i have had no precedential to do so. and again i thought i have to

photograph president's been doubly have any press credentials how am i going to get in? it was one of those meaningful personal moments where life intervenes and suddenly revive is here. you know you're on the right track and what happened to me in my home in southern california and in a our time i get one phone call from a 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 and she asked me, could you photograph some of the upcoming campaigns that ultimately that is how i became president clinton's retired for during the 1992 campaign. then within hours later i got another phone call from the horatio alger foundation also in washington d.c., in short distance from tutt close up foundation and they asked me when i be so kind to photograph

president reagan when he was command to southern california and also back in washington d.c.. so in a single that i had my breakthrough in since then i never stopped photograph in every president from jimmy carter to currently president obama. so finally i like to start to wrap this up for an all roads lead to democracy alternately the journey would take me to charlottesville, to monticello. for years i have heard about this amazing new american immigration ceremony on july 4th in front of monticello. there are the 76 new seven -- 76 new sissons taking the oath of allegiance so i approached jeffersons, and i couldn't help but think of thomas garrison in paris where in 1786 instead of being in philadelphia helping to write the constitution he assigned 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 artist marie, and also he encountered web john trumbull recommended seeing the famous dedona, the hotel soma -- excuse my french but i'm from the midwest -- so anyway he steered at the dome and staring at the dome. and ultimately his love for fell by the wayside over time, but his love for the dome ultimately became the first residential zone in the united states when he build that monticello. and curiously in had 13 skylights. it reminded me that freemasons and it diaz from jefferson to franklin, they all love all things 13. i even noticed the national press club is on the 13th

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

of airplanes regally they used to do that out. or even our obsession or phobia about friday the 13th. they would even be you when i was photographing it at monticello, the 76 citizens, they would gather and look at the numerology -- numerology is fun were you take the numbers and add them up. seven plus six equals 13. well, where this is 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 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 photo historians, our challenge to pass the torch on. and i guess as teachers, how to pass this on to a generation that is somewhat preoccupied with ipod's, a text messaging, how do we make this matter to our children? that's the big question i think

for myself as parents and as teachers. one of the things i really thought about is the county you instill in some and that tomorrow matters? well, one of the ways is to remember that you will be residing in that tomorrow and how they pass that on is basically our challenge. later that day i drove on to washington d.c., again talking july 4th, 2005, to run into with this gentleman sitting over here, john. he may even remember this. he had staked out, he is my stakeout guy -- 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 the shot -- you can't be too far this fight are

too far in that way. it has to be right there. this was my spot and that was the spot i was looking for an john stated out amongst 150, to 0,000 people on the outside of the river. so as i walked through the crowd there was a band playing and as the band played in one of them, they have america the beautiful appropriately on july 4th and i started to look at it. again, partially the sense of my own destiny, i started focusing on america. now you might say maybe the lemonade was spiked, but suddenly another anagram -- america -- the letters started moving around in all of a sudden i could see and you can try this at home -- america spells as an anagram i embrace. you can do this on paper -- america spells i am race.

and as i walked through crown and saw virtually every human you can possibly think of i was reminded of herman melville's quote. our blood is as the blood of the amazon made up of a thousand noble currents 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 than jefferson partially inspired contents of thousands of images that i had 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 town, the farms, where i grew up off route 66 -- and lived in all the 76 new american citizens and as the fire worse climaxed i

realize that for me my journey to capture and to photograph democracy could never be taken as a single image. and could never be accomplished in a single iconic moment. instead it my portrait of democracy would be a gigantic mosaic. if you think back to your art history and think of pointillist some that each single thought, if you look in every single one it does not tell anything until you back up and you get that bird's-eye view, if you look down and suddenly all those dots start to come together to create a larger vision of america. we are all gods and the 1300 pictures that appear in my book basically began as a singular vision of america. but what i came away with is

that basically is not my vision of america, it is plural because it is visions of america. because you and i are part of that mosaic so every time you take a picture of and when you go back, or in washington d.c. you to our photograph and democracy. and when i was like to say is that when i saw then and when i see today matters and when you go back home and you remember which you saw in washington d.c. that to share with some of your pictures that you took and tell your foot of history, but specifically when you get home also i want you to tell everybody that she meant jo shmo and he took her picture. go out like to finish with a picture of you because you are the subject of this talk. okay, so everybody smile. [laughter]

you got two always remember to turn the camera on the. [laughter] okay, thank you very much. [applause] if anybody has any questions i would be happy to answer. >> where are you going to start during? >> well, i am currently have colleges and universities are subject of interest and i'm also starting in my home town in ohio california so my first one is going to be on july 4th ironically. i have been giving them all 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

which you could not bring your cello, and that was kind of my challenge here because i would have preferred to show you visuals on a video screen but unfortunately that was in the case. mumbai basically it makes you think about what is that i want to share and how i have been framed photographs the with the founders from the ideas. >> is there one photograph that you have planned something out and you were totally surprised, it became sort of a favorite of yours along the way? >> well, that is like if you have five children and asked to is her favorite child. so i think there recall shooting

the ticker-tape parade in new york city which was easier then to do because he could do without press credentials. as the soldiers and it seemed like half a u.s. army was marching down broadway, they were coming at me and the ticker tape was coming down and some of the shots are in my book, but the shot that i remember was just turning around to see where i was walking backwards and suddenly there was a single american flag hanging on the side of a building surrounded enshrouded by thousands of little tiny pieces of tape. there is one other one -- this is not a cheap plug either. [laughter] but ironically this picture on the cover, i had to think of tens of thousands of pictures, which picture do you put on a 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 of. number two, it is the number one symbol of democracy. and number three, the red, white and blue balloons which in the event for this was president reagan's speaking for the bicentennial of the constitution. and possibly john was there, but the unusual thing about this is this has now been deemed environmentally incorrect. [laughter] there are no red, white and blue balloons anymore allowed to do that. now, the photo opportunity as you say was basically i did not have press credentials to get me close to get the shot the president reagan so that is my lesson in line with what seems to be a liability sometimes is an asset so consequently they suck me way back in the rear per call i had no idea those

balloons were going to go off and then when they started going out i went holy cow. the whole sky became red, white and blue and i began shooting and following the u.s. capitol and all the guys that were really close, the pros on reagan, they did not get that shot. so what then became a liability became probably my top-selling photograph so in many respects i think maybe my favorite photograph is the one on the cover. >> you are talking about when you were in iowa with president obama back in the spring. when you are following in individual and you are shooting 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 part is that impossible to do? >> in terms of picking up their personality? >> yes.

>> well, certain personalities are completely comfortable having a glass or lenses in front of them and that 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 have not spoken to a lot of -- there is a protocol when you carry a camera. if you are in a room with three photographers and the president, it's not my job really to speak with them. i love to talk to them but actually president obama is one of the few people that spoke to me. within three minutes of been there he spoke to me. and my friends and say, what did he say? and he said, get off my chair. [laughter] that is an exact quote, you can tell how articulate and directing