political biography in a summer and believe it or not sitting on the beach with "truman" one year was quite lovely, seems odd but true and i've started but not yet made as much of a dent as i would like in gwen ifill's new book, "break through" and that is a goal and david sedaris, the fiction category, though his is combo fiction-nonfiction, quirke, some people don't necessarily appreciate his sense of humor, i personally find him hysterical. when you are engulfed in flames is a book that came out, i think probably a couple years ago, has been on my night stand and will get read, especially, i think a good plane book or pick me up, for those days when i just can't slog through much else. what is also going to get read this summer, because i have a two-and-a-half-year-old, really

a lot of books that frankly i don't have any choice, but i will read them every night, and for those of you with young kids, i recommend "the neighbors on sunnyside street" it is a little bit quirke and doesn't make any sense but those are most books for kids but has a lot of 0 things to look at which distracts him for a good long time and by the end, he is so exhausted maybe i only have to do one and richard scary books are also high on the list, as well as "where the wild things kwor cents a, always a classics and soon to be a movie. so, those are my summer books. i hope i can get through one of them!

>> 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 all 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 the question who has been here before and so i want to say to those of you who are veterans of the close-up program welcome back and those of you who are new, welcome aboard, i'm sure all of you know or wouldn't be here, that close-up remains the gold standard for civic education programs in washington, d.c., so, congratulations for participating. i'm going to introduce you to a gentleman who, like me has been associated with close-up for many, many years and joe sohm has been called many things, some of which are repeatable

here, though we have a camera in the room and a photographer is this thing that he is referred to the most and begins to tell the story. but doesn't really tell the story and the story may be this operative word, i think if you were trying to really distill it, joe is a story tell your and the pictures are part of the presentation and there is more going on than the pictures and the project you will hear about today illustrates that. and if he is a storyteller, his story is the story of america. joe is in love with america, not in the theme, patriotic type of patriotism, where you put mass produced bumper stick owners your car, but in a deep, hissal way, that looks at the promise and challenges of america, and accomplishments of america, and he is one of you. geoghan his career as an american history teacher and was

in the had theism istch to hav bigger class and turned that into a photography career and highs a bit of a corn ball and with the name sohm, used to call the business chrome-sohm and the mobile home he traveled around the country taking pictures he called the chrome-a-home, and he covered all 50 states and every image of america and then some has been seen through his view finder and initially recorded on film and now the entire sohm library is reshot in digital panoramics and without knowing it you have seen hundreds of his images, he is, i can say with confidence though this are no statistics, he is the most iconic photographer in america

and his images show up everywhere and willed be on a plane and open a magazine and see one of his shots and didn't know it would appear there, because different agents work for him around the world and great to sit home and go to the mailbox and see where the latest check came from and he might get into some of the things that have changed technological changed the business as well but his images or published over 10,000 times a year and web sites, newspapers, periodicals, tv and film, you name it, some of the places, high profile, you may have seen his images in "an inconvenient truth" on the official credit card of the u.s. olympic team, in close-up publications, the capitol hill brochure sam introduced you to, for all we know joe generously contributed his library free of charge to close-up and it is a match made in heaven. and when i interviewed him at the museum a year ago and asked how he describes himself, off

the notion of what do you call him, he used the term photo historian and finally had a term after all these years of knowing joe that made sense and he never left the classroom as i suggested he changed to his students, and i'll hold the book up, a weighty tome, here it is, visions of america, photographing democracy. essentially, joe's mission has continued to evolve and went from photographing the veneer of america, to thinking about the idea, photographing democracy and that is what he has attempted to do in this significant project, the book is just part of it. his new format includes a sympho symphony, original music and the prototype premiered in philadelphia a couple of months ago, an all-star cast of contributors, it has 21 essays and brought to live and peter nero and the philadelphia pops played the music, a grammy award

winning composer, conductor musician at the helm and the original music score written by roger calloway, any jazz fans in the group, a legendary jazz composer and recently toured with tony bennett and wrote the theme to "all in the family" and the award winning musical team of allen and marilyn bergman wrote original songs performed by grammy winner patti austin and the only person within stage without an em miss or a academy award was joe -- there is time, there is time and it premiered for a week in philadelphia and now is going to be a international and national tour and lang with the book, the latest telling of his story of america, and, so, in addition to those projects he's going to begin a national speaking tour, and kicks that off today with you and without further ado,

allow me to introduce writer, producer, storyteller, photographer, jack-of-all-trades, joe sohm. joseph? [applause]. >> good afternoon. it is still morning for me, i just flew in from california where i reside and i kind of dodged a few fires on the way and an earthquake that was centered in the town i live. so it is very nice to be hear in washington, d.c. i want to thank john for the very gracious introduction. mostly i wanted to thank him for pronouncing my name right. this has been a problem most of my life, it is pronounced sohm, and occasionally i'll be asked to speak now, at a -- an event and more resly an event called food chain and unfortunately the person that filled out the little name card, hike many of you have on your next, was

slightly dyslexic and had all the right letters and they were not in the right sequence and i being into wide angle views rather than close-up, i -- excuse the pun -- i basically didn't look at the tag. well, you should always look at your tag and when i picked it up, it was this. and if you look, if you look closely, it is spelled s, h, m, o, and shrewdly i put my tag on, and throughout the conference, people started walking up to me and saying, hey, joe, shmo, what down? and after a while i thought you, my god, couldn't make it up, this is completely absurd and other people called me joe the photographer but that guy is balder than i am, but call me

joe the eyes of the common man and honored to be part of your close-up view of the nation's capitol. and i understand most of you just arrived in the last day or two, having -- what have you seen so far? can you tell me? give me an idea of... >> washington on movement. >> washington monument. >> lincoln memorial. >> what do you plan to see, or ask sam to see what he'll show you? >> capitol hill. so on. >> when you go back home with your students, without, with your children, or each your parents or your friends, how do you think you will take this home with you in how will you share it? >> pictures. >> in pictures, that is exactly this point and this is one of the reasons i do what i love, because, i, too, love the american story, but i like to

tell that story with a camera. exhibit a. so, like you, and what john was saying, i was a former teacher, not a farmer -- a former teacher, a midwestern accent, if you didn't notice and i was an 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 john's wife, that if you are a teacher you are not supposed to smile until january. [laughter]. >> and i was less a person for giving discipline and more a person that required much discipline and consequently i was looking for a larger classroom. and today that is what my project is called, "visions of

america" and the photos can be found in hundreds of photos, not only published in textbooks and magazines, but, really, across not only the united states but the world, but, specifically in this book and i should say, if you are interested in the book it is too heavy to carry with you on the plane and it does come with a small little chiropractor's gift certificate in case you throw out part of your back. it is 8 pounds and in the new economic reality i thought one of the best ways to market it was not by the $75 price tag but the price per picture, so i basically came up -- it is only 7 cents a picture and if you wanted one picture, cut that up. so, as john was describing i consider myself a photo historian and specifically instead of a pen, i use the camera as my tool. i tell the terry of america in pictures and most recently in various ways, music, images,

lyrics and this project and recently i looked at a sign in a camera store which basically is where i deposit most of my revenue and i was looking at the word "camera" and all automotive a sudden i went, huh, i'm from california and you have to process this. basically, if you rescramble the letters it is almost an an gram, take the c and move it around, it almost spells america and you can try to sit home and spell it out. the only thing that is missing is the "i" the eye of the camera. and i figured the camera was a great way for me to tell the story of america. i'm particularly attracted 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 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's not in a karmic way, indian or religious way. but more like the -- i guess you would say metaphorically, michelangelo that would see a sculptor in the piece of marble and i think in your own lives if you have this sense of your own purpose, that you can kind of eke out the path that takes you where you want to go. now, 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 mace i should be in order to be in that classroom. and as teachers, some of you know i know are government teachers and other ones cover civics, which unfortunately is not as often covered in schools as it could be and should be should be and also, american

history. but, basically the story of america is in those details, in the books. and i have to find my trail. so my personal trail and personal story began on the bangs of the mississippi, just off of old route 66. now, 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, webster groves, and ironically, in the town i grew up, they actually, "60 minutes" -- not "60 minutes," cbs, isolated by community as the most typical community in the u.s.al there must be something here. i'm typical. after all i am joe shmo! so the eyes of the common man, so, consequently, i went on and i bought my first house.

and years later i found my first house was in jefferson county -- my guy -- and jefferson county at that time was geographically the population center of the united states. so, now, the story is emerging we have the eye of america with the camera with the most typical community in america, growing up on the banks of the mississippi, and he's named joe shmo. the story starts to emerge. here in the midwest, we are the river that separates the east from the west, frequently in st. louis one thing i like about it -- and if you grew up there you could attest to this -- is basically they call it the last city of the east or the first city of the west, why the gateway arch is there. so if joe shmo grew up in st. louis i guess you could say it is like where superman came from which is krypton. so we would specialize as a

youth off 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 i ultimately found my way home and ultimately found my we back to washington, d.c., but it became almost and on session in my youth and an obsession, i'm embarrassed to say as an adult, too, i have spent more time getting lost than most of you people have been found. so, in fact, that almost became my daily commute. destiny, this was my destination, or no destination at all and this is where i find my photos and these are easy to find. you know where the jefferson memorial is, you nowhere the world war ii memorial is, you also know where the u.s. capitol is and you will know where this lincoln memorial is, because sam and others will take you there. but many of photos i take are what you would call found america and i find it, in the

most unexpected places. like just today, i get an e-mail coming in from -- i have scouts, and this one was, there was going to be a police ceremony for a fallen officer, well, i photographed those before where hundreds of officers all lined up and it's quite a moving experience but today i was told that, look in the sky and there would be 8 helicopters flying over the city, and someplace over washington there was. so, to be a photo historian is to basically walk and view life through a viewfinder which is what i do even if the camera is not at my face, my gut instinct is i'm on the search looking for photos. whether the u.s. capitol i'm photographing, or possibly a man sleeping on the streets, under the u.s. capitol.

not completely in view, where you place the camera, is basically the story you can tell, and that is the selectivity of the photograph and what it can say. every day, i go out on a photo shoot, my film or my jpegs are your memory. carpal is my eyes and my ears, that -- they aid what jefferson said, learning is a lifelong adventure. if such, that is the journey i want to enjoy. for me, my success or failure of -- as a photographer depends upon the foundation of where our nation came from, and where we are going. as a photo hisser to, you kno s toeian, i photograph a baseball game, will the phillies win but when i filmed all of the teams

of the u.s., i felt it was the phillies, i photographed the opening game and again at the national league finals. it is the same with the cherry blossoms, i called up john many times and he's one of my scouts and said when are the cherry blossoms going to bloom, no one knows, they -- the cherry blossoms is scheduled for april 1st, around that date, and it is the same with the autumn leaves of new england and frequently i found, those leaves aren't always changing on time. but, you try to anticipate the shot. the same thing with presidential candidates, which one is going to win. where will you focus your camera? who will you spend your time with? do you want to focus on the guy that is going to finish second or third or fourth or do you want to pick the guy that is going to win? fortunately, when i photographed the des moines, iowa state fair, which is a great place to

photograph candidates, because in essence, they come to you. that is one of my great metaphors, of following basketball, is michael jordan said when he was younger, he would take the shots. when he got older he let the shots come to him. it was obvious during the presidential campaign that we are in a sea changing environment here, so i tended to focus on senator obama. and fortunately, when i went to the des moines state fair, or the iowa state fair, as it is called, i had not been there for probably 40 seconds, and there was senator obama standing virtually right in front of me. and at that time, it wasn't 250 photographers, it was only 7 or 89 guys, so, fortunately, that is one of the things that you do, in taking pictures, is not only do you learn to focus, take shots, 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 you are changing lenses, going this way and at the same time without stepping in front of another photographer, who will swat you on the back of your bald spot if you do. many of my images are these fixed locations, which a would call in my book, i call amer-icons and the reason i was drawn to the iconic america, is when you think about it, where the united states started in the 1770s and 1780s, there was no jefferson memorial, there was no world war ii memorial, there was no u.s. capital, there were none of these iconic elements. and our founders had the vision that, basically, if you are going to create a new concept, basically, in this con -- and

the concept is democracy or republic as we know it we need to create the symbols of what this is. and what we represent and how do you represent "we the people" and france had versailles and england the coated of arms and all nations had ways of symbolizing their belief system and we had virtually nothing and barely had a flag. fortunately for ben franklin he didn't get his will in everything because he proposed the turkey as our national symbol and i think the bald eagle was a much, much better choice. in fact, the eagle you will see in my pictures actually has a name, this is an eagle where you get close-up and i had to get a model release out of him, we call him an eagle release in the trade. is -- and he's bald, too. [laughter]. >> his name is challenger, and i did notice during the presidential inaugural they showed old challenger. i found him at dolly -- what's

the -- dolliwoydolly-wood and i it was part of americana and they had be a eagle refuge location and challenger was there, and apparently challenger was shot out of an airplane, not a good -- good way to end up in a federal penitentiary, any with a i photographed him and over the years i have been picking my way, trying to get iconic america, one of my best stories is possibly mt. rush more, going there early in the morning at 5:00 a.m., to get your tripod spot and you think everything is completely set and not a tourist in sight, and the sun is coming up and going to hit all four presidents perfectly and hours go by, i bring up for cameras and tripods and equipment. wait, and wait and wait and suddenly the first pink colors start to hit george washington's

carved in granite and hitting jefferson, but not hitting the other two presidents, because they are all living in the shadows of george washington. and i guess you could say that metaphorically as well and in photography that is not a good thing, ideally you want even lighting an lighting on all four or none of them but not just two of the four and i waited and wait and now the pink slight is slightly going to golden which is what you want and slightly this yellow and then suddenly the sky is turning blue and magic moment is just being lost but at a certain point there is all four presidents, i've driven a day half from denver to get to south dakota to get the shot, and just when i think everything is right, i go all i ned is one 8th of a second and have by shot and on to the next location and at that point when you think, nothing can go wrong, always

something will. at that point, somebody walks out on the top of lincoln's head and i didn't know that you could get on the top of lincoln's head. so, i am watching the little dot and he didn't have a green t-shirt on, he has an orange t-shirt and it's in the book, i was so -- it was so absurd i photographed him and the orange dot it is walking on the of lincoln's head and it is lincoln and he's got an orange zit on him or something -- [laughter]. >> so at that point i kind of channeled my inner new yorker and i said, i am not going to wait another 24 hours for another day to get the mt. rush mof shot, not too many tourists were around, so i said, please get off be a ram lincoln's head, i'll taking a picture. so, at that point, the park ranger heard what i said and he was very upset and walks up to me and he said, excuse me, sir. that is not going to happen any

time soon. that is the super in ten dent of the national parks, in charge of every park west of the mississippi river. so what can you do? i waited for mr. orange t-shirt to get off, ultimately, he stepped around and he was out of shot and out of sight and in an 8th of a second i had the shot and packed up the cameras and i was out of there but i will always remember the superintendent and i'm sure he'll remember me, too. other shots that i take, are ordinary, and i would say, that is -- i specialize in photographings ordinary america on -- photographing ordinary america, on an ordinary day, because through the lens, i look for the daily things, that shout out, here is america. my lens might focus on this homeless man, in beverly hills, that i got, where in beverly hills, you are not homeless for too long and if you are you move

to santa monica, but i found a homeless man sleeping underneath a beverly hills bank so i laid down in the street to get at eye level with him because the shot was basically, many of these shots. this is not specifically -- this is object directed. but other shots are juxtapositions, the irony that you are looking for, you know? homeless man underneath the -- one of the richest areas in the u.s., in beverly hills, seemed kind of unusual for -- to me. i came back, five minutes larte after i got the shot and he was gone, probably on his way to santa monica, very accepting of all people and other shots are driving around in stonington, maine, my favorite fishing village in maine, takes a long drive off of route 1 to get there and you get there and the sun lighted is coming up and the magic hour is what i'm looking

for. the first two hours of sunrise and the last two hours. but, at the last moment you see an older man walking out on his porch putting up an american flag. and then the flag goes up, that is the shot. it shoutsz, this is america. or another shot when i'm photographing senator obama at that time, soon to be the president obama, he is eating a corn dog and also, driving a bumper car. with the little girls. so there is obama going like this, trying -- i'm sure he'll remember that, this bumper car and i think he used that in a debate line in iowa where they were kind of hammering him from both sides and he said, you know, to prepare for these debates i took a ride on the bumper cars! but, again, you have to anticipate the shot. these shots you don't have to anticipate. you only have to look for the

lighting. so, in my search for america, basically, with the camera, i'm not here to tell you whether the metaphorical class glass i look through is half full or half empty but i suggest as you walk through your daily america wherever that is, whether in florida or whether in california, that you look through the glass or this lens and take this bird's eye view that i do and you look at that class inside-out, outside-in, you get down on the ground, look from the rooftop. i love rooftops. that is why where i live there is lots of hawks, always sitting at the top of the trees, looking down and i guess you could say i like looking down on people and the certain way that i do, because it gives you the perspective, many of the shots i take are panoramic views and when want a panoramic shot want to see the big view and the only way to get the big view is to

really look through the the glass in so many different ways and i looked from the political left, from the political right, on a single day i might photograph john mccain and senator obama. so, walk down that street, any street in your own neighborhood including streets that you might even be afraid to, and drive down and go down the roads that say, do not enter. aye 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 mace we call america and 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 a lens, i understand what happened here mattered.

and there are consequences that what began here in 1776 and 1787, i was reading earlier this morning, reminding myself of this thomas kuhn who wrote "the origins of scientific revolutions." and this was an important concept, where he introduced the term "paradigm shift." and prior to his enunciating what a paradigm shift is, or popularizing it. we always thought things changed in orderly ways. but it basically doesn't. not only not in our personal life, say we have lost a job and suddenly are forced to find something on the inside of us, but, even as societies. we change in fits and fros and paradigm shifts happen when things sometimes in crisis, break down, and other things emerge from it. one of the exciting things of

the current economic situation, is we don't know what is going to happen next. that is -- we're all in the process of creating collectively. but, basically, if you look at the entire, big picture, rooftop position, that the second millennium, talk a thousand-year viewpoint, what are this most important things that happened in the second millennium? well, you could say christopher columbus, that is a big thing or could say deputies en berg creating the -- guttenberg creating the printing pris and still affect our world today, but i would suggest the most important thing that reordered the world that we know and created a revolution or evolution of ways and 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 stick out. one of the things i really love is july 4th. well, july 4th, i'm always -- in fact it may air on this day, so i wasn't born on the 4th 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 you, as american history, civics, 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 that you could ask, how long was jefferson and adams an american citizen, well, there were no american citizens

on july 3rd, 1776, so mr. jefferson and mr. adams were both citizens for precisely, to the day, 50 years, to the day. well, nor one is, now, we talked about the top five founders. in the case. which was my interest, because, i am specifically attracted as a historian, without the camera, to that 1770, 1780, 1790 period, because that is when the paradigm shifted and when the world changed. the other one that changed, and died on july 4th, was james monroe. he just not only died on july 4th, no one talks about poor mr. monroe... they just want jefferson and adams, and like red meat for the founders. so, mr. monroe died on the 55th anniversary of the signing. almost as if they willed their death. okay, then let's go to somewhat

the father of the constitution. james madison. short man, but, had a big life. he died on the 60th anniversary, not on july 4th, unfortunately, he slightly missed and we know he really tried but he died on june 28th, 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 maybe other people, by the way, born or died in those days, george w. bush, just misted it on july 6th and our lover of america, also, who would say 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, louie b. mayer born in russia and who, basically, embraced the 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 gladwell talks about in the tipping point? i love the idea of sticky ideas. how does something stick to your cellular makeup of your brain? well, the sticky idea here in america is basically democracy. it is the central organizing principle and if i wanted to create it in my photosynthesis it would be democracy that i would photograph but it is a conundrum, how do you photograph an idea? mind you it is 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 negative space is around the object but not it.

so consequently, how do you photograph "it" meaning democracy. this was my challenge in doing the work. democracy is the canvas we paint or lives on, it is how we draw or family, our children, or buildings, our civilization. yet -- but if it is not "it" how do i photograph it and, this became the focus of my book. if democracy defines us, then the it is in our dna, in our cellular makeup. if i can focus that lens, on the expressions of democracy, i think i will have done it. and that is what i attempted to do. i have had many appearances in photographing the small towns. the games. the big cities. everything that really defines democracy. if i look at the urban skyline,

chicago is one of the cities i focused on. it invented the skyline in 1885. if i have to focus on these symbols i would photograph the amer-icons and focus on the games in democracy i wouldn't focus on tennis, if you really think about it, tennis is a game of the -- that came from the aristocracy, came from louie x's court games with the cryptic scoring of 15, 30, 40 love, not designed for the common man and the games of the common man are baseball, football, basketball, the games usually with balls a roll. and the other thing, that i have photographed that i think is relevant to democracy is global warming, and how can you say global warming is related to democracy, and, well, the curious thing is here that it is basically something that caused by all of us, that affects all

of us and ultimately its cure is by all of us. so, in man respects global warming is the ultimate democratic element that needs to be photographed and i did that, mine book and i called it red, white and green. and i was fortunate to have some of those pictures in al gore's film, an inconvenient truth, ultimately the democratic expression is best, i think, accomplished by the race for the presidency. if you want to find a single event where all americans are joined together in a single exercise, i kept thinking, okay, what is this one thing we all do together? well, you could say the we all pay our taxes on april 15 and is not necessarily something to separated and when i started to look into april 15, the day has a bad vibe, as we would say in 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 photographing of presidents, so when i started, is john -- as john would refer to me as, possibly i was one of the earlier citizen journal irsz, prior to the internet, when i started my exercise of photographing america that i needed to photograph presidents but, unlike some of the people, maybe here, i had no press credentials to do so, and again, i thought, i have to photograph presidents but don't have any press credentials, how will i get in and there was one of those meaningful personal moment where life intervened and suddenly your life gets easier and you know you are on the right track and what happened to me in my home in southern

california in an 8-hour period a got a phone call from a friend who lost a job and came up and got a new job and suddenly 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 campaign that ultimately ended -- that is how i became president clinton's photographer, during the 1992 campaign. then, within hours, later, i got another phone call from the horatio alger foundation, a short distance from the close-up foundation in washington, d.c. and would i be so kind to photograph president reagan when he was coming to southern california and back in washington, d.c. so, in a single day, i had my break through, and since then, i never stopped photographing, every president from jimmie carter to, currently, president obama. finally, i'd like to start to

wrap this up, if all roads lead to democracy, ultimately, the journey, we take me to charlottesville, to montecello and for years i heard about the amazing new american immigration ceremony on july 4th. in front of montecello. there would be 76 new citizens taking the oath of allegiance and 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 write the conscience institution, he assigned almost his buddy james madison to do so, walking around in a single day fell in love twice in one days, once with a woman and the famous english -- not english, artist, marie causeway and, also, he encountered what john trumbull recommended, seeing the famous dome, the hotel de salm,

excuse my french, i'm from the midwest and stared at the dome and stared at the dome and stared at the dome and ultimately his love for marie causeway fell by the way side over time, but, his love for the dome ultimately became the first residential dome in the united states. when he built that the at montecello and curiously it had 13 skylights and reminded me freemasons and deists from jefferson to franklin, they all loved all things 13. i even noticed the national press club is on the 13 floor. and, if you look at -- this is a visual aid now, the dollar bill, now i know it is much smaller from back there and perhaps it is deflation or inflation, we're the not sure, but it does look smaller from afar but remember chilly everything on the dollar

bill, the poyramid on it, there is an all seeing eye on the top of it and 12 layers, that lead up to that eye, and there are 13 arrows, there are 13 olive leaves symbolizing the peace, you --ee pluribus unum out of many comes one, in god we trust, everything in here is encoded in 13. the founders loved 13 and they wouldn't understand our phobia for 13 floors, with the exception of the national press club, or taking the 13th floor of airplanes, frequently they used to do that. out. and even our obsession or phobia about friday the 13th. they would even view what i was photographing at montecello, the 76 citizens, they would gather and look at the numerology, numerology is kind of fun, take this numbers and add them up, 7

plus 6 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 multiply that on july 4th, 2005, the day i was walking up to the dome, to photograph these 76 citizens, we became at that point all of us, became the 13th generation of americans since this founding of the revolution. this is the original american dream. and 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 onto the 14th generation? to replenish what will become ours? whether we're -- as teachers, parents or myself, as photo historians it is our challenge to pass that torch on and i guess as teachers, how would you pass this on, to a generation that is somewhat preoccupied with ipods, 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 is, how do you in still in someone that tomorrow matters? well, one of the ways is to remember that you will be residing in that tomorrow. and how they passed that on, is

basically, our challenge. later that day i drove onto washington, d.c., again, talking july 4th, 2005, to rendezvous with this gentleman, sitting over here, john, and he may even remember this. he had staked out, high stake-out guy, this exact spot, because, again, photography is about alignment. want to align different elements so that you can get the shot. and there is a spot, maybe sam will show you, along the potomac where the three monuments line up, and that is what the -- you cannot be too far this way or too far that way. it has to be right there. this was my spot and that was the spot i was looking for and john staked it out among 150, 200,000 people on that side of the river and as i walked through the crowd, there was a band playing, and as the band

played, one of them, they had america the beautiful, appropriately on july 4th, and i started to look at it. and, again, partially this sense of my own destiny, i started focusing on america, now, you might say maybe this lemonade was spiked but suddenly, another anagram appeared and america and letters moved around and all of a sudden i could see, try at home, too, america spells, i, am, race. and move them around and do it on paper. america spells "i am race." and as i walked through the crowd and saw virtually every human you could possibly think of, i was reminded of remember minute melville's quote, "our blood is as the flood of the amazon, made up of the thousand noble currents, all pouring into one. we are not a nation, so much as

a world." and there i was, with the monuments in front of me, as this fireworks exploded over the city, jefferson partially inspired, tens 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 of the skylines, i thought of the presidents. i thought of macy's day parade rose bowl parade, the small towns, the farms, where i group up off of route 66 and looked at all of these 76 new american citizens and as the fireworks climaxed i realized that, for me, my journey to capture and to photograph democracy could never be taken as a single image. it could never be accomplished in a single iconic moment. instead, my portrait of democracy would be a gigantic mosaic. if you think back to your are

history and think of cerat's pointedalism, each -- pointsalism, every dot, it doesn't tell anything until you back up and get the bird's eye view and look down and suddenly all of the dots come together and -- to create a larger vision of america. we are all dots and the 1300 pictures that appear in my book basically began as a singular vision of mark but the "aha" here, what a came away with is that basically it's not my vision of america, it is plural, visions of america, because you and i are part of that mosaic, over time you take a picture, back home or in washington, d.c., you, too, are

photographing democracy. and what i would like to say is what i you a then and what i see today matters. and when you go back home and you remember what you saw in washington, d.c., that you share with some of your pictures that you took, and tell your photo history, but, specifically, when you get home, also, i want you to tell everybody that you met joe shmo and he took your picture and i would like to finish with a picture of you, because you are the subject of this talk, so, everybody smile... always remember this turn the camera on! [laughter]. >> okay. okay, thank you very much. [applause]. >> if anybody has any questions,

i would be happy to answer them. >> five minutes for questions. >> sure. >> where are you going to start -- i mean, giving talks. >> i'm currently have colleges and universities, and i'm also starting in my home town, in ohi, california and my first one will be on july 4th, ironically, and i have been giving them along the way and this is kicking it off and the challenge here is sort of like, if you were yo-yo ma and asked to do a talk on music and couldn't bring your cello, that was... that was my challenge here, because i would have preferred to show you visuals on a video screen, but, unfortunately that wasn't the case, but it basically coerced me to think about what it is i wanted to share and how i have

been framing photographs the way the founder frames ideas. any other questions, about fstops or shutter speeds? well -- joe. >> is there one photograph that you had plans -- planned something and were totally surprised and began sort of a favorite of -- became a favorite of yours along the way? >> like if you have five children and you are asked who is your favorite child. so i think -- i recall shooting the ticker tape parade in new york city, which was easier then to do because you could do it without press credentials as the soldiers, seemed like half the us army was marching down broadway. they were coming at me, and ticker tape was coming down and some of those shots are in my

book. but the shot that the i remember was just turning around to see where i was walking backwards, and suddenly, there was just a single american flag hanging on the side of a building surrounded and shrouded by thousands of little tiny pieces of tape, and there is one other one... this is not a cheap plug, either. but ironically this picture on the confer, i had to thing of tens of thousands of pictures, which picture do you put on the front of the book and the reason i thought of this is, number one, the u.s. capitol, they've done studies, is the most famous building in the world. number 2, the number one symbol of democracy. and, number 3, the red, white and blue balloons, which 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, this is now deemed environmentally incorrect. there are no red, white and blue balloons any more that are allowed to do that. now, the photo op, as you would say, was basically i did not have press credentials to get me close to get the shot of president reagan, so, that is my little lesson in life, what seems to be a liability, sometimes is an asset. so, consequently they stuck me back way in the rear and i had no idea those balloons were going to go off and when they started going up, i went holy cow, you know, the whole sky became red, whited and blue and started shooting, shooting, shooting and following them oup the capitol and the guys that were really close, the pros on reagan didn't get that shot. so, what then became a liability, became probably my

top selling photograph. so, in many respects i guess maybe my favorite photograph this is one on the cover. bob? >> you were talking about when you were in iowa with president obama. back in the spring. when you are following an individual, and shooting the 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 this person you are taking pictures of or is that impossible to do? >> you me, in terms of picking up their personality. >> yeah. yeah. >> well, certain personalities are completely comfortable having glass or lenses in front of them and senator obama is, you know, 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 -- there's a protocol when you car a camera. if you are in a room with three photographers, and the president, it's not my job really to speak with him. i would love to talk to them but, actually president obama is one of the few people that spoke to me. and within three minutes of being this, he spoke to me, and my friends, say, what did he say and he said, get off my chair. [laughter]. >> and that is an exact quote. you can tell how articulate and direct he is! and, you know, because particularly, i am -- you know, i'm looking for the best shot, so consequently lookers, the at a table in the round and there is one empty chair, i go, oh! i'll shoot the bird's eye view looking down, and that is my favorite viewpoint and i didn't realize the chair was empty because that is where he is

supposed to sit, but, anyway i did find that many of these, you know, ronald reagan, the camera becomes second nature to them, and president clinton, i've got maybe one of the largest collections of private individual "time" magazine, "new york times" would have way more than i do but in terms of, as an individual i have thousands of shots of president and secretary of commerce, hillary clinton, as well. and i have to say, that their personality came across quite well and are usually quite polite to the photographers. and i don't think they are just polite because i have actually seen presidents reach out and catch the cameraman because they're going to fall, frequently, i was saying and i'm serious you have to walk