Memories

My last conversation with Sam was a phone call that I thought would be about which camera I should buy for photographing birds. It turned into an hour of him doing what he loved most: teaching. He explained aperture diffraction with a garden hose, walked me through the three kinds of sensor noise, told me how hummingbirds run the same feeding circuit every fifteen or twenty minutes and land on the same perch within half an inch, and warned me to buy toward the system I would grow into, not just the camera in front of me. Every rule came with a story, and every few minutes he stopped to make sure I was still with him. He finished by promising to send me a few things to look at, and by telling me to misbehave as much as I could without getting into too much trouble. I recorded that call so I would never forget what he said. What he taught me that day is in the Book of Terms now, where he would have wanted it. The recording itself I will cherish forever.

Michael Davies · son-in-law