Sam Abell

I was known as a 35-mm photographer with a view-camera mentality.

— Sam Abell

A very big part of the life of a photograph is the afterlife.

— Sam Abell

I would like to go to Antarctica. That's about all.

— Sam Abell

Aboriginal Australia is a tough place to work, rough and tough.

— Sam Abell

Richard Prince's most famous photograph was made by me.

— Sam Abell

Editorial photography has to be energetic and visually competitive.

— Sam Abell

The unusual wins out over the usual.

— Sam Abell

Increasingly, it's people not interested in National Geographic.

— Sam Abell

I wanted life to be episodic. I wanted to be a magazine photographer and I was willing to do what it took…

— Sam Abell

Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment - this very moment - to…

— Sam Abell

It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use.

— Sam Abell

What I'm interested in is modern American history. I'm taken with the changes that have occurred in America in my lifetime.

— Sam Abell

That's who comes to my workshops. I jokingly tell my students that the class could be called "Your photographs: Better."

— Sam Abell

I had a book come out several years ago, when there were no blogs. This is a mark to me about how…

— Sam Abell

[ My time and our common culture] it's what I'm photographing, and I'm very involved with that.

— Sam Abell

It's more difficult now, to be a Geographic photographer, than it was when I came along. And it wasn't easy at that…

— Sam Abell

I did it once, and National Geographic recruited me. I did it primarily out of curiosity. A lot of legendary photographers had…

— Sam Abell

Even though I teach with 35mm, my method takes people by surprise, because it isn't fast, and it isn't about hardware or…

— Sam Abell

Actually, ambition won't get you that far. You'll shift gears. You'll see something that's shinier. But if you believe... then you're the…

— Sam Abell

My dad had been an ardent amateur photographer, and he taught me to compose a photograph from the back to the front,…

— Sam Abell

Above all, it's hard learning to live with vivid mental images of scenes I cared for and failed to photograph. It is…

— Sam Abell

I think that it's workshops, honestly, that have kept me keen about photography, and about my photography. My career as a workshop…

— Sam Abell

My least favorite photographer to have would be myself. Someone who wanted a career at National Geographic. Because it's almost mathematically impossible…

— Sam Abell

People say to me, "Who's your favorite kind of photographer?" Or "Who would be your favorite photographer to have in a workshop?"…

— Sam Abell

For spiritual companions I have had the many artists who have relied on nature to help shape their imagination. And their most…

— Sam Abell

There are grander and more sublime landscapes - to me. There are more compelling cultures. But what appeals to me about central…

— Sam Abell

How the visual world appears is important to me. I'm always aware of the light. I'm always aware of what I would…

— Sam Abell

But there is more to a fine photograph than information. We are also seeking to present an image that arouses the curiosity…

— Sam Abell

My Dad took a workshop from a photographer who worked at the Toledo Blade, a newspaper I delivered. I knew this photographer's…

— Sam Abell

In my first class at the University of Kentucky, my American Literature professor came in, and the first sentence out of his…

— Sam Abell

There are a lot of ways to talk about the life of a photograph. You can talk about the afterlife of a…

— Sam Abell

It's a little bit like talking about the life of writing. The life of writing may be about many things, but it…

— Sam Abell

Essentially what photography is is life lit up.

— Sam Abell

I now want to be a photographer of my time, and our common culture.

— Sam Abell

A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.

— Sam Abell

There's a great quote about Virginia Woolf, she had the same spiritual stake in her diaries as she had in her writing.

— Sam Abell

The longer we lived with it the more we wanted something less about process and more about life.

— Sam Abell

Photographs that transcend but do not deny their literal situation appeal to me.

— Sam Abell

The best lesson I was given is that all of life teaches, especially if we have that expectation.

— Sam Abell

I'm very involved in photographing America now, so I don't think of faraway places, as I did when I was young.

— Sam Abell