Occasionally, I get lucky. Honest Abe granted me a private audience one propitious day for about ten minutes. We sat together and read his words engraved on the walls as the sun came up over the Washington Monument. One of the most profound moments in my life.... Then alas, the first tour bus
showed up. Before the inevitable, I was able to actually photograph Him without the throngs of tourists coming to pay Him the same respect I was there to offer. But that day, for that little time, it was just He and I. I rushed to get the photograph I envisioned from the previous day’s visit with the rising sun upon His face. And as I broke down my tripod I caught myself reading his words, “…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” You could feel the loneliness in this temple. And the photograph before you is my representation of not only my experience, but maybe how He must have felt at that time, alone, oppugn in thought, with the weight of a young nation upon his shoulders.