Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Sights Unseen

Sam Morris - The photography compulsion

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Sam Morris

A couple, enjoying the quiet, relax on a bench and contemplate the fog and ocean one morning in late summer in Lincoln City, Ore.

Monday, Dec. 21, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Sights unseen: Sam Morris's photography compulsion

As a train engine releases steam, a rainbow is formed high above the Des Moines River near Boone, Iowa. Launch slideshow »

They say you shouldn’t take your work home with you. Fortunately for me, the act of taking photos doesn’t seem like work (trust me, other parts of the job are).

I wouldn’t say taking photos is a compulsion, but sometimes it does seems as if I can’t help myself. Even though a photo may never be displayed anywhere other than my computer, if I see something that catches my eye, I have to shoot it.

This collection of photos represents some of that compulsion. Like the photo of the cloud over the Stratosphere. I was cleaning out the drain on the roof of my garage when I saw it, thought about it, thought about just enjoying it, then relented and climbed down to get a camera and climb back up. Or the picture of my daughter. I have thousands of photos of my kids, but when I saw the graphic element of the road with her on it, I grabbed my camera for a quick couple of photos. Or the couple at the beach. I saw the fog was getting thicker, so I hung around for 20 minutes doing nothing but waiting for it to get thick enough to obscure the beach and water in the distance.

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