BRIAN LAMB, CSPAN: Doug Mills, how would you define what the job of a ”New York Times” photographer is?

DOUG MILLS, PHOTORAPHER, NEW YORK TIMES: Trying the capture the events that I’m at in the best possible news what - news judgment, using my news judgment that I have and trying bring out and show the readers exactly what happened in the event that I’m covering, whether it’s political, sports. Sports, obviously, is peak action. Obviously, in politics there’s also peak action that happens. So, trying to be able to bring that to the reader, not only for the newspaper, but now the Internet, the Web, so.

LAMB: This is going to be a fast-paced hour, so we might as well get right into photographs cause we have so many to show. What’s - what do you - what’s in your lap, there?

MILLS: I just got back yesterday from the McCain campaign. I was out with John McCain for three or four days and up until his win in Texas and had a couple days on the plane with him. Obviously, the spirits are very high there and these are pictures that were taken on the plane - this one here, during a little meeting, he’s up in the front of the plane. We’re on the same plane as he is, all the press are, and this is his press secretary here putting a little makeup on him before we landed on the ground.

LAMB: How far away do they keep you on a normal flight like this?

MILLS: Probably eight to 10 rows in the - in the plane, but, really, he is so relaxed. He walks around the plane quite a bit. There’s no restrictions whatsoever about taking pictures of him on the plane. He gets on the plane. Obviously, if he’s sleeping or something like that, you wouldn’t go up and take a picture of him, but he’s there and nobody every said hey, don’t take any pictures of this; don’t do anything, so it’s very open.

LAMB: We’re looking at an Apple computer on your lap there.

MILLS: Yes.

LAMB: What does - function does that whole thing play in your work?

MILLS: This is - without this, I mean, I wouldn’t be able to do my job. Everything now is digital. My cameras are digital. As soon as I, you know, take the pictures from the camera and put them into my computer, send them back to the paper. I couldn’t do it without the laptop and this …

LAMB: Show us the top of the Apple there, which the - the gear on …

MILLS: This here?

LAMB: Yes, what is that?

MILLS: This is a card reader, which the disk from the camera comes out and goes into here and then it’s ingested into the camera - or into the laptop and then this device here is a wireless Verizon card that hooks me up to the Internet. Just about any location in the country, I can - I can hook up and then I get online and then FTP my pictures into the ”New York Times.”

LAMB: What’s FTP mean?

MILLS: It’s a computer term for dropping these images into a FTP site or a digital darkroom, so to speak, and then it goes from there to the editors up there who look at the - you know, we used to have prints that we were, you know, making in darkrooms and so forth. Now it all comes into the computers and they can edit from right there. It goes right onto the Internet or it gets put into a different folder for the newspaper and then all the editors can look at it from there.

LAMB: What kind of an Apple is it?

MILLS: This is a MacBook Pro G4.

LAMB: And you’ve got more McCain pictures on there?

MILLS: Yes, I do. I - this picture here is just unusual for me, having been out with Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, there’s no Secret Service. He doesn’t have Secret Service now, so the crowds pretty much gather right around him. He has no security at all, really. This was in a barbecue restaurant the other day. He spoke to supporters there, much like a town hall meeting. And then this was that night in San Antonio - excuse me, Dallas. Excuse me. Dallas was where the celebration was where he had his victory party there.

LAMB: How many pictures did you take of him that day and how many of them do you have, say in that computer?

MILLS: That day, probably maybe 200 and I kept - keep every image and the ”New York Times” backs them all up on a hard drive and makes DVDs, but on the computer, I can keep as much as three or four months’ worth of work and then I back it up to another hard drive.

LAMB: You have a photo there of a …

MILLS: Very happy.

LAMB: … supporter. How often does - do you see something like that and did the ”New York Times” use that picture?

MILLS: They used it online. I don’t think it made it in the paper. I know it was in part of a slide show that was in the ”New York Times” Web site and I think it may have made the early editions in the newspaper. It was late in the evening after the senator - he was going through the rope line after his speech and this guy was just screaming and yelling. He was pretty excited.

LAMB: How long have you been a photographer?

MILLS: I’ve been a photographer since probably - I started as a hobby in middle school and then followed it through high school and …

LAMB: Where?

MILLS: I went; probably the biggest moment for me was in middle school when I went to something called the Arlington Career Center in Arlington, Virginia, which actually had classes. I was able to take my regular math, English and government or geometry in my home school and then they bused us to this school, which provided photography, law enforcement, a lot of trades there. So I went there and would spend three hours a day learning photography and we had wonderful instructors.

LAMB: What year would that have been?

MILLS: That was in 1976.

LAMB: And how much more schooling did you get?

MILLS: Obviously, I went to finish high school and studying at the career center, also, in high school and then went to Northern Virginia Community College for two years.

LAMB: And how long did you work - and did you go to work right away for the AP?

MILLS: No. No, I started at a small newspaper in Virginia, the ”Journal Newspapers,” and was a freelancer there and then went to work while I was in college and had a coop job - cooperative education job where I worked for the National Bureau of Standards and worked with two photographers that worked at National Bureau of Standards, taught me about studio lighting, just on-location photography, something I had no idea having just wanted to study photo journalism sports at that time, so that was - that was a great, you know, thing to learn about lighting. And then went from the ”Journal Newspapers” to United Press International and spent two years in the United Press International and then went on to the Associated Press where I was there for 20 - or 15 years and then about six years now at the ”New York Times.”

LAMB: We asked a freelance photographer by the name of Signe Taylor …

MILLS: Yes.

LAMB: … who lives in Vermont if she would follow you around so we could see what it’s like to be a photographer. This is only a couple minutes. This is from - and the funny thing about it, we were trying to remember what city it was.

MILLS: Right.

LAMB: And you can’t even remember what city it was …

MILLS: I couldn’t tell you.

LAMB: … in New Hampshire and neither could we, but we’ll find out by looking at this video and we’ll ask you more about this.

MILLS: Great.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: … before she starts, man.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: No, she - once she - just so you know what she’s doing is she’s going to another room first, so you’ll have plenty of time to set up before she goes into the main room.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: You with her all week then?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Yes, I’ve been with her since Iowa. Long days, man.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Long days.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: The next President of the United States, Senator Hillary Clinton. Chelsea Clinton …

HILLARY CLINTON, SENATOR, NEW YORK: Thank you. Thank you so much. (INAUDIBLE) to believe, as I believed that the future is unlimited and the possibilities are there for the taking. But I also know that wishing doesn’t make it so.

(INAUDIBLE) that are rooted in the reality of the experiences you bring to the job. Now somebody once said if you want to know, it applies to everybody, because if you want to know what kind of changes each of us will make then look with careful consideration that you are now bring (ph) like all of you who take your citizenship so seriously and who have the opportunities just on …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What town are we in?

CLINTON: … something that was long overdue.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What town is this?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What town is this?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Hampton.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Hampton, you got it. Thank you.

CLINTON: … for President because I will actually place the tax rates we had in the ’90s, which were not exactly a hardship period for (INAUDIBLE) and we will use that to help middle class families as small businesses afford health care. See, I think that’s a good deal for America and I intend to produce that (INAUDIBLE) implementation of No Child Left Behind was …

(VIDEO CONTINUES WITH MILLS TAKING PICTURES OF CLINTON CAMPAIGN EVENT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE)

LAMB: Doug Mills, let’s go back. Well, first, before we go back, I want to show the audience a ”New York Times” front page and I know this isn’t the same rally, but just so people can see what happens. This is a front page picture of Hillary Clinton and you can look right down here at the bottom and you can see the name Doug Mills. How long does it take to go through that whole process to start with and get your photos - we saw you send photos in the middle of that vent, but to get them on the Web?

MILLS: Probably, at that particular event there, I think she - that was the night she won New Hampshire and going into the night, we thought it was going to be a, you know, the - everybody was saying she’s going to lose, so it really was not going to be a top story at that point. Everybody thought Obama was going to win and then when she came back and ended up pulling it out there; it ramped it up for us as far as trying to get the pictures out as fast as possible. It probably - the time she came through, greeted supporters, got on stage. By the time she was speaking, I probably had that disk out of my camera, into the computer and probably five to seven minutes into her speech, that picture was already back at the ”New York Times” and probably on the Web site within minutes.

LAMB: Who decides what pictures go on the Web site?

MILLS: There are Web site editors, photo editors. We have photo editors that both work for the paper and for the - for the Web site and they’re two separate departments and so all the pictures go in. That’s why we have multiple pictures that we’re required to send in because some will go to the paper, some will end up on the Web site, some will do both. That picture probably was on the - because it was the first picture out, it probably ended up on the Web site and because it was so late, probably 11:00 at night, it ended up on the front page the next day.

LAMB: During the last six months or so, what have your assignments been? What is your title inside the ”New York Times” photo shop?

MILLS: Probably, I’ve been doing both politics and sports, which I, you know, I have - I have the greatest job. I get to do both. I spent - right after Christmas, I went out with Senator Clinton, was out there for about two weeks, two and a half weeks, came back and the next weekend went out to cover the New York Giants and Green Bay in the playoffs. And then the following week - and during that time, I’m either covering the White House or Capitol Hill, whatever’s going on up there and then the following week, went out to the Super Bowl and covered the Super Bowl and then, just recently, just got off the McCain campaign.

LAMB: We’re going to go back to 9/11. You took some famous pictures at 9/11 and we’ll show you the first one and you can give us the situation.

MILLS: OK.

LAMB: Black and white; why?

MILLS: It’s in black and white - one, because of the quality of the digital camera at the time was not great. It wasn’t, you know, the same quality we have now and they just - you know, when I put them all together and looked at them, they looked better in black and white, so I decided because of the lighting conditions in the room and so forth, I just decided to go with black and white.

LAMB: Now that’s probably the most famous right there.

MILLS: That, yes, that …

LAMB: Why? What is it?

MILLS: Because during that classroom visit, it was basically a trip that was going to talk about education, Head Start Program and the President arrived at that school and by the time we pulled up to the school, we had heard that there’d been plane crash in New York City and had no idea how big it was. And then Andy Card, during that event, which is very unusual, Andy Card, the Chief of Staff, walked over and whispered into the President’s ear, Mr. President, a second aircraft has just hit the World Trade Center …

LAMB: And he knows in this picture that it’s hit.

MILLS: He knows right there that this is a terrorist attack.

LAMB: Did you?

MILLS: We had no idea.

LAMB: And where were you traveling that particular time? Were you with the President on …

MILLS: I was traveling on Air Force One with the President all day. We were going to do a stop in Florida and I think then we were heading back to Washington. So immediately after he heard that he made this statement here where he got pretty choked up about it and the day just took off. I mean it was just an amazing day, straight onto the Air - onto Air Force One. We were not told where we were going. Nobody seemed to know where we were going. If they did, they weren’t telling us. We were able to watch it from a monitor inside of Air Force One, in the press cabin there, showing replays and we were watching on the screens, you know, the Pentagon’s on fire and the World Trade Center’s on fire, so we were watching most of it and this is here, the President was on the phone to the governor and the mayor of New York, discussing what plans they were going to do.

LAMB: What kind of restrictions are there on you when you’re in that room and he’s on the phone?

MILLS: Not in - it’s very rare that we were up there in the front of the cabin with the President. It’s very rare. It doesn’t happen very often, but because of the historical day that it was, we were invited up. Andy Card invited us up there to document it and this was amazing moments here when, you know, we landed at our first stop in Louisiana; Air Force One was surrounded by armed guards. Normally we’re surrounded by greeting crowds and supporters and to get off the plan and see a gentleman standing there with a M16 and a rifle, not something you see every day, so it’s …

LAMB: What were your own thoughts at the time?

MILLS: What’s the next - you know, every - when we were flying on the plane, we were very concerned about what’s next, you know. What is going to happen next? And, you know, this was a moment, which still you can’t believed happened. We were flying out to Nebraska, to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and we were looking out the window and there was a F-16 and we were like what’s that doing out there. And they said oh, they’re following us, or escorting us and, you know, it just put chills through you thinking that that’s how serious this was and they followed us all the way back to Andrews Air Force Base. And you could - I mean, we looked out the wing and you could see the pilots of the fighter’s face. That’s how close they were.

LAMB: Now can you send photos back to the ”New York Times” from Air Force One?

MILLS: We cannot, no, not yet. They have Internet access on board, but not for the press.

LAMB: So when did you get those photos back to the New York Times and was there a Web site at the time?

MILLS: This - well, I worked for the Associated Press during this time.

LAMB: You did.

MILLS: Yes. At our first stop, they took us - here in Nebraska, they - this was the first time I was able to send some of the stuff. They took us to a - well, he went into this underground bunker. They took us across to an auditorium in another conference room and let us use their Internet access there and we were able to send the pictures back then.

LAMB: What picture was the one that everybody remembers the most?

MILLS: Probably - there are probably two pictures from that week. From that day, the picture of Andy Card whispering into his ear is now in some, you know, history books, so it’s one of the pictures that people will - when I see people that are younger than me, photographers will say oh, you were the one who took that picture of Andy Card talk - you know, whispering in the President’s ear that day, weren’t you? And I go yes.

LAMB: What did you do about your own family?

MILLS: There were restrictions immediately on the press, because at that point there weren’t - we had cell phones, but there wasn’t a lot of e-mailing with BlackBerrys and so forth at that time, so we were text messaging. We all had the little pagers that you could two-way text and we were told to turn those off, take the batteries out of our phones, take the batteries out of our pagers because they were worried whoever would be looking, you know, to do anymore harm may be tracking us through our pagers or cell phones, so we weren’t really able to communicate with our families. I didn’t call my wife. I, actually, when some of the press pool left Air Force One, cause they took the normal pool from 13 down to five people and so there were only five of us and very limited Secret Service and staff on Air Force One, I was able to tell one of my colleagues who didn’t come along with us to call my wife and let her know what was happening and she was obviously very concerned, but knew that I was with the President. But also, she works here back in Washington, so Washington was still, you know, everything was going crazy in Washington and there was a lot of concern about, you know, what was going to be next or if this was it because …

LAMB: We should tell the audience that wife works a very short distance from where we’re sitting …

MILLS: She does.

LAMB: … as the manager of our CSPAN radio stations and you’ve done our program before, but we want to make sure we remind folks if they didn’t know that.

Katrina - you shot Katrina.

MILLS: I did. I did.

LAMB: And give us the circumstances. Why were you there?

MILLS: I went down there. I was - we had two photographers who were immediately dispatched to Katrina - Vince LaForet and Chang Lee both went from New York directly to New Orleans and I went down five days afterwards and - to relieve them, because they obviously hadn’t slept and were exhausted by then, so I was sent down and I came in and still found the place, you know, hard to believe their situation. This gentleman here was sent back to his house, which you saw there just a minute ago, with the inside of his living room completely under water. He was sent back to get his son’s stuffed animals and that right there is his wife’s wedding dress. And that was all his wife said. That’s the only thing I want in that house, then we’re leaving.

LAMB: Talk about the composition of that photo right there.

MILLS: I went in the house first and didn’t see anybody. And, you know, all the doors were open and it looked like somebody was there, but I didn’t see anybody, so I went outside and was just kind of looking through the windows and lo and behold, there was a broken window there kind of looked up in there and I was like oh, my gosh, somebody’s in there and saw this gentleman in there. And he said what are you doing? What are you doing? Cause there was nobody around. I mean, I don’t know how he got his truck into this area. I barely got the car that I was driving into this area and he said I’m here just to get some belongings and I’m getting out of here. He thought I was with the police at first.

LAMB: Now what are the rules about publishing a picture of that man? Did you have to get a release from him?

MILLS: No, no. I just asked. He knew, he gave me his name, saw me taking his picture and he invited me actually into his house for that second picture with him with all of the, you know, debris scattered throughout and the four feet of mud in his house.

LAMB: Some of the rest of these photographs ……

MILLS: Right.

LAMB: And some of the rest of them are pretty tough to look at and have they been published?

MILLS: Yes. The majority of the ones of the deceased people were published. We - the ”New York Times” published one of them where you really couldn’t see the woman’s face and ”New York Times” owns the ”International Herald Tribune” and they published one of them and they were also seen in magazines because our pictures are sold through the New York Times News Service.

LAMB: What’s this picture?

MILLS: That was - I was in a rowboat. I had found a rowboat - myself and another photographer had found a rowboat probably two miles from this location and got in it and started rowing around neighborhoods and pulled in behind this church and that was the first thing I saw. And at first I thought it was a branch and then I realized it was a hand and.

LAMB: Did you take a picture? Is that the same body right there?

MILLS: That’s the same body, yes, yes, because I was at an angle where I could not see her up there on the top step.

LAMB: Now the next picture, for the audience, it’s a very tough picture to look at.

MILLS: That was …

LAMB: And where was this published? Where was this published?

MILLS: It stayed with me for a long time. That was published overseas. Yes, it wasn’t published in the ”New York Times.”

LAMB: My first concern when I look at it is do we know who that woman is and how about the family and did they know you were going to publish this?

MILLS: You know, when I got back to the hotel that night and showed these very disturbing pictures to one of our reporters, I think he spent about six months trying to find out who she was and unfortunately there were no records of her at this - at this church. People have tried - I guaranty you it was at least six months that they looked for her to try to find out who she was and never found out who she was.

LAMB: Are you responsible for when those pictures are published or is someone else?

MILLS: Someone else. Yes, I immediately sent those into the paper and told them they were coming and that they should be, you know, somebody was concerned about the graph - you know, the - just how violent they looked, you know.

LAMB: What’s this photo?

MILLS: This was a picture, again, riding through a neighborhood in my car and found this deceased man there and, of course, if we found something like that, we would tell the, you know, because we were driving around just like the authorities were, looking for anything. They necessarily weren’t looking for deceased people all the time. They were looking for survivors, so I was driving through this neighborhood and saw this and then myself and another photographer contacted one of the local police to tell them there was somebody on this street and they came and retrieved him.

LAMB: What’s the philosophy about publishing - I’m sure people are watching, saying that is just not necessary. We don’t have to see things like that. What’s your philosophy?

MILLS: I think - before - I think the reasoning - reason behind, you know, publishing something like that was, given this was probably, you know, seven or eight days after Katrina, you know, had happened, you know, the whole floods and that the response was not what it should have been. And, you know, you look at this - this woman clearly didn’t drown there. This was on - this was probably 12 feet above ground where the theory was from some of the law enforcement later was that she lived in this church, could not get out, so she went to the highest point, went out on this back step and stayed up there and because the tree is over top of her, the helicopters flying around couldn’t see her. And there was obviously probably six feet of water at this church and she just - she died on this top step looking - trying to be saved.

LAMB: Is there a time when you become emotional in any of these situations?

MILLS: This situation here rocked me for a couple days. I was - I was a little, you know. I had to take it. You know, it’s not like - you just can’t ignore it and then we obviously told law enforcement that she was back there and what we had come upon and, as a lot of the photographers would do. But, yes, it hit me for days. I would have - I had a couple nightmares about it. I remember waking up one night and thinking that she was alive or just having that same image of her in there. It was hard to look down. Believe me; I didn’t spend a lot of time there. I, you know, I was - I was in wader, you know, hip wader boots. It’s hot. It was really hot. I had to walk a great distance out of - had to get out of the boat to get up those steps, because I didn’t know what was in that door and I didn’t try and open it, but there she was with her - even with her cane just laying right next to her.

LAMB: Let me shift to the photography business for the ”New York Times.” How many people work full time as a photographer?

MILLS: Upwards of probably, I would think - I don’t have the exact number, but I know in Washington, we are - there are two photographers, Steve Crowley and myself. And in New York - excuse me, there are probably between 40 and 50.

LAMB: Full time, on staff.

MILLS: Yes.

LAMB: Only two here.

MILLS: Yes, two here covering the White House and Capitol Hill and we have freelancers, also, that are - we have wonderful freelancers here in town.

LAMB: Was there a time when there were more photographers on staff here?

MILLS: I think three. There - a number three. I think three has probably been the tops.

LAMB: Your equipment. You’ve got what kind of cameras?

MILLS: I use Canon. All photographers at the ”New York Times” use …

LAMB: Why don’t you pick them up, if you don’t mind, Doug Mills, and our camera can pick it up over there.

MILLS: I use Canon Mark III. It’s the latest, greatest camera out by Canon right now.

LAMB: How expensive is that camera?

MILLS: This is probably about $5,200 I think and then the lens, probably another two or 3,000.

LAMB: Is there any way to demonstrate how you take a picture, like of me and then put it into your computer?

MILLS: Sure. Absolutely.

LAMB: Why don’t we do that so that …

MILLS: Sure, I’d be glad to.

LAMB: … while we’re talking. Now, you’ve got another camera there?

MILLS: I’ve got another camera here that is a …

LAMB: Why don’t you show our audience that - what you just put in there, that little …

MILLS: Oh, the disk. OK, sure.

LAMB: Yes, the disk.

MILLS: It’s called an SD card.

LAMB: How big - how many photos can that take?

MILLS: This card here is a two gig card, so it probably takes around three or 400 pictures at a time, clearly far more that what we used to be able to shoot on a 36 exposure roll of film.

LAMB: And what size is that lens?

MILLS: This is a 24 to 70 2.8 lens. It’s a great lens - great campaign lens, wide angle lens. You’re able to show the environment wherever the candidate is. And the other lens is a - this is a telephoto lens, much like a couple of the front pages that you have there.

LAMB: Do the cameras belong to you, personally?

MILLS: No. They belong to the ”New York Times.”

LAMB: And how old are they?

MILLS: This one’s probably about two months old. This one’s probably about a year old.

LAMB: And what’s the philosophy at the ”Times” of how often you can update them from a …

MILLS: They update whatever’s - they, you know, the ”Times” is great about equipment. Whatever you need to do your job the best, they provide it for you and whether it’s laptops - we have the best laptops on the market. We have the best cameras and any time you need something …

LAMB: Let’s take some shots and show people how this is done. I’ll hold up this, if you don’t mind, the ”New York Times” …

MILLS: Oh, sure.

LAMB: … and this is - this is a shot that you actually took. Do you remember - can you remember that one you …

MILLS: From the Super Bowl?

LAMB: Yes. Show the, also, the picture here of everything that people can see …

MILLS: OK.

LAMB: … so that they know what it looks like for the cameras behind us. Now what do you do?

MILLS: Now I’ll take the disk out of the camera.

LAMB: And you can do this right and like you did when we showed the video, right in the middle of an event.

MILLS: Yes, oh yes. We do it - we do it right in the middle of an event all the time, even, you know, when the President’s talking, you know.

LAMB: If you don’t mind …

MILLS: Sure.

LAMB: Turn that around so that Garrett (ph) can pick it up so he can show what you’re doing.

MILLS: All right. So I basically put the disk into the - into the laptop - into the reader.

LAMB: It goes right up - where - up in that little device in the back.

MILLS: Yes. See this is just Velcroed on. I’ve just, you know, added this on so it’s more convenient, so it’s not in my bag and it’s something I have to pick up all the time.

LAMB: OK. Now what are we looking at now?

MILLS: So right now I’m going to go through using Photo Mechanic and I’m going to be able to look at those pictures right there and there’s the wide angle picture here, showing the TV monitor in the background. There’s the tight one of you. And then if I wanted to edit that picture and if that’s the one I - this is much like I would at a - at an event, political event, Presidential event, sporting event. Just hit edit and it would bring it up in Photoshop and then I could lighten or darken it.

LAMB: You know, one of the things I often notice the photos and you see it all the time in the ”New York Times” are these - I don’t like them, personally - these horrible, up close and personal, you can count the number of hairs on somebody’s face.

MILLS: Yes.

LAMB: Can you get it that close on mine?

MILLS: Oh, sure. Yes, I mean I could - I could crop it up. Sure, I could …

LAMB: And when people are taking photos for the different magazine shots and all it often ends up on the front cover of the ”New York Times” magazine, do they know they’re going to have these incredibly close shots?

MILLS: They usually do, yes. The photographers - a lot of times, if you’re shooting a portrait of somebody, I like to also let them see what I’m doing. It makes them feel comfortable and, you know, much like this picture of Obama there - Senator Obama, he - that was an event up on Capitol Hill and clearly, this was when he was making his comeback and, you know, Senator Clinton was doing well in the polls. He was - he was gaining on her at this point.

LAMB: So what if you really want a shot in the ”New York Times” and you find that your editor on the other end doesn’t think it’s as good as you think it is?

MILLS: That happens quite a bit.

LAMB: Does it?

MILLS: I mean - oh, yes. Yes, there are times that you think something should be published when it doesn’t and there’s nothing you can do about, you know. It’s just - it’s much like a reporter who really thinks they have a great story and, you know, there are people that work above them and are smarter than - there are plenty of smart people in New York on the photo side and also editorial when, you know, go to the page one meetings in New York City for what’s put on the front page of the paper. It’s an amazing meeting. I’ve been lucky enough to sit in on them and listen to them debate every picture that goes on the front page of the ”New York Times” every day. And it’s fascinating.

LAMB: All right. We’ve got a lot more photos to cover. Sports is something that you get cover in prime time. This network doesn’t cover sports, but - unless it’s a hearing on Capitol Hill.

MILLS: Right.

LAMB: But you’ve got sports shots in here and they are some of the most dramatic, for instance, where is that?

MILLS: That’s at the Olympics in Atlanta with Marion Jones. Obviously, her situation’s changed quite a bit after her, you know, admitting that she used steroids. She won a lot of gold medals there. This is Bode Miller at the Olympics in Italy just recently, last year and …

LAMB: How long were you there?

MILLS: I was there three weeks - a little over three weeks, long time and just …

LAMB: How many photos did you get published during that three weeks?

MILLS: Probably - that was a pretty good run. I’d say probably anywhere from 50 to 100. That was Sasha Cohen back there.

LAMB: Now this photo is, I assume, one of your favorites.

MILLS: Yes, I love this. You know, it’s just one of those things where I was walking into an arena where they were practicing and warming up and they had that etched on the - on the glass at the skating arena and it was just one of those things. You’re walking by to go to work and you see it and you stop dead in your tracks and say that’s a picture.

LAMB: And the ”New York Times” published it.

MILLS: They did, yes, they used it (ph).

LAMB: In the paper or on the Web site?

MILLS: Both. Yes, both. Both of those.

LAMB: And did you submit for an award?

MILLS: I don’t know. I didn’t get a chance, unfortunately, this year to spend - because I was on the road a lot, entering the White House news photographer’s contest, but I’m sure New York entered it in others contests for us.

LAMB: On these sports photos, are they more fun to do than the political ones?

MILLS: You know, it’s funny. We - I would say they’re - it’s equally the same. There are peak moments in every political event. There are peak moments in every sporting event. I enjoy …

LAMB: How did you do - how did you this one?

MILLS: That’s at a real slow shutter speed and those guys are flying and I was able to pan. And, luckily, with a digital camera, you can see it right away, so if it’s not exactly what you want, you wait for them to come out around again and I had a couple cracks at them. I think they went around four times during that race and I think I got them on the second time.

LAMB: Where are you physically? How far are you away from them?

MILLS: I’m probably 20 feet, 20 feet. Yes, I mean you can hear the blades. You can - it’s a great feeling to be in - to see a speed skating event.

LAMB: And how many other photographers are around you?

MILLS: At that point, I was the only one. There were other people at the other end of the track waiting for the finish line.

LAMB: Now this next photo.

MILLS: Tiger Woods, yes.

LAMB: But you do take a pause when you see it. Where’s his head?

MILLS: He was - this was during a - this was at the Masters and he was taking off his rain jacket it was just one of those moments where, you know, I shot it and didn’t it, you know, would look as good as it did, because I, you know, when - if you see something in the view finder you didn’t - you didn’t capture it on the disk or you didn’t capture in on film.

LAMB: So on the golf course you camera does make noise. What do you do?

MILLS: It does and Tiger and most golfers are extremely sensitive to that. You have to be really careful. You’re not allowed just to photograph them during - in their backswing.

LAMB: What about this?

MILLS: This was in - this - I think this was in California at a tournament with, you know, that’s Tiger Woods there and clearly it’s after he had teed off. There’s a tee - I think you can see it in the picture in the middle of the frame and it’s no problem after they’ve hit the ball. But any time before hand, whether they’re addressing a putt, you know, they’re very sensitive, unlike, you know, other professional athletes, you know, basketball, everybody’s screaming during a foul shot.

LAMB: Now, you’re known for shots like this.

MILLS: Yes, I love - I love the low angle look. Yes, I love looking up at a subject from a really different perspective and trying to get a low angle and just making a reader or making someone look twice at to think wow, how did they do that?

LAMB: You get to know these athletes.

MILLS: You do. You probably get to know politicians better than you do athletes …

LAMB: Do they get to know you?

MILLS: Yes, yes. Yes, they do.

LAMB: Do they every ask you - has either a politician or a sports figure every asked you to take a certain kind of picture?

MILLS: No. I would remember, no. Not a - politicians especially not. There are politicians who love the camera. There are Congressmen and Senators who know when a photographer’s in a room and are easily, you know, they can convey what they want you to see. You know, if they’re in a meeting and they want to look like they’re really into it and really in charge then they will sit up in their chair and right up near the subject and really engaged. There are other times when you go into and a Congressman or Senators or whoever it is, is not - are not camera savvy so they don’t know how to do that and it really shows sometimes. So it takes a little more work.

LAMB: Back to another serious group of photographs from Arlington National Cemetery.

MILLS: Yes, this one actually was in Georgia. This was a …

LAMB: Oh, it was.

MILLS: This is from the - but a majority of the other ones are from Arlington. This is a little boy whose uncle was killed in the Iraq War. One - this was early on. This was in the very early stages of the war …

LAMB: What are the rules, again, for you and like, for instance, this shot is where?

MILLS: This was at Arlington Cemetery and we were at - I was actually there covering another funeral for another soldier who had been killed and was being laid to rest and just down the way in the cemetery was this young lady here who was grieving over her boyfriend’s death and he had been buried and she came back, much like a lot of the people who have people, you know, loved ones buried there. They’re back there very often to spend time at the grave, you know, there are girlfriends; there are spouses that I see frequently because we go out there quite a bit to cover funerals.

LAMB: Did you ask permission for this?

MILLS: Afterwards I asked her permission, yes.

LAMB: And …

MILLS: She did not even know I was there and she was fine with it. She was, you know, she even asked me - asked me to e-mail her a picture.

LAMB: Do you remember her name?

MILLS: No, I don’t remember her name, no.

LAMB: And why do you think people would agree to let you do that?

MILLS: I think they really - she had nothing to hide and she was, you know, it’s a very emotional moment for her and I think maybe people seeing her grieve will help other people who are going through the same situation. I know there’s a father who is out there quite often who I see at his son’s graveside and grieving and I think that’s his, you know, he wants - he does not mind the photographers or the press coverage there at all.

LAMB: Now this photograph, did this family agree to this?

MILLS: Yes. This was a open press event for a - which, this was from the Gulf War and her …

LAMB: What year?

MILLS: This was - would have been in ninety …

LAMB: You’re talking about back in ’91.

MILLS: Yes, ’91. It probably was ’91, exactly. And he was a helicopter pilot killed in the - in the war and both of her children there and she was there and I - that’s one of the funerals that stuck with me. It was one of the first funerals that really - that I covered at Arlington that really had a great impact on me, seeing those young men there, those boys just - who had lost their dad. This is from the - from the Iraq War here. This is somebody who was laid to rest and the Pentagon is right there in the background. They’ve - the area where he was buried was - the Pentagon is on the other side of 395 there and these are some of his …

LAMB: Who are - who are the folks there? Is that a blanket that’s around this?

MILLS: Yes, they had come from the hospital to witness this ceremony at the - at Arlington and I - it was our understanding that he was in their brigade.

LAMB: And again, you get permission to do this?

MILLS: Yes. This was a - this was a pretty high profile funeral held there. The woman there holding her baby was, if I’m not mistaken, was a CIA agent and that was her husband who was killed.

LAMB: Where did you end up publishing this?

MILLS: That was - that was on the front page, yes. And this here is from the Iraq War also. This was a family that - these were all the nieces and nephew of this soldier who was killed at Arlington. And this was a different funeral here. The people under the umbrella were the widow and the mom of the killed soldier.

LAMB: How long - do those just happen and you get them or do you wait for them?

MILLS: This was a really cold, windy, rainy day. Normally we don’t see the caisson like this. A lot of times it comes from the other direction, just logistically from wherever they’re being buried and most of the staff at Arlington is, you know, is very good to us and lets us do our job and not a lot of restrictions.

LAMB: Now where is this photo?

MILLS: This was at - N.I. - I believe NIH and this soldier …

LAMB: National Institutes of Health.

MILLS: Right. And he had lost - we spent some time - a report for the ”New York Times” was actually with this gentleman when he was in Baghdad when he was - when he lost his leg there. He was injured. He spent probably eight months looking after him through - from the time. She flew back on the helicopter with him and went through the whole process of his recovery and I went up to Pennsylvania probably six months later I - around six months and photographed him with his wife and in their house as he was adjusting to life. He had his prosthesis there. He was learning to walk and amazing spirit from the soldiers there. It’s just amazing what, you know, is presented with them and how they overcome it.

LAMB: Now have you ever seen war yourself?

MILLS: No.

LAMB: Why not?

MILLS: Family - I have family.

LAMB: How old are your kids?

MILLS: Thirteen and 15, two girls. Love them and I wouldn’t want to do it to my wife. I wouldn’t want to, you know, put myself in harm’s way - and that’s probably selfish in some regards, but I’ve - I spent some time in the Persian Gulf on a - on a couple ships during the first war, not on the ground, but I was on a ship doing part of a DOD embed pool and realized how quickly your life can change when the ship that was in front of us hit a land mine or, you know, in the water and I remember the captain turning around and he was white as a sheet on the - on the bridge of the ship and saying that could have been us and if that was us, we’d all be dead. And I - it just - it, you know, just one of those moments where you think this isn’t worth dying for.

LAMB: Back to the politics again, we have some more video from your stop there in New Hampshire and the lady that you - you didn’t confront her, but she confronted you.

MILLS: Right.

LAMB: What was the purpose of her confronting you? What did - we’ll show what she says to you, but what was - how - and how often does this happen?

MILLS: It happens at every stop. Every stop there’s always, you know, if you do any time walking through the crowd, people immediately want to know who you work for and it’s a question that’s asked every day. Who do you work for and, you know, how long have you been on the campaign? How’s the candidate doing? And, you know, a lot of times you get different reactions from, you know, avid - when I worked at AP, we’d get different reactions. Oh, there was an AP picture I didn’t like or I love the AP, same with the ”New York Times.” There are people that love us or hate us and there are people in between. You always find people who will say they respect what we do, but why did you use this picture and how come you’re not taking better pictures of the candidate? Or I remember during the last campaign with President Bush, when he was running for reelection, having heated debates on the road because, you know, everybody thought that the - you know, we weren’t putting the President in a better light and that happens on both sides, whether you’re a - I mean the Kerry people - Senator Kerry, when he ran for President, wasn’t happy with some of the coverage that the ”New York Times” was doing and that happens on every campaign.

LAMB: There are two candidates running that you see, and I know the Drudge Report’s done a lot of this, taking a picture of Hillary Clinton, very close shots showing the aging process.

MILLS: Sure.

LAMB: And then you have also John McCain, who’s quite a bit older.

MILLS: Right.

LAMB: He’s 71 - has the scar on his left side of his cheek from the melanoma.

MILLS: Right, exactly.

LAMB: How do you treat both of those and has the Dredge Report been unfair to Hillary Clinton?

MILLS: I think we obviously always shoot tight head shots of each candidate and we do our best to, whatever the situation, not try and go out of our way to make them look bad, go out of our way to make them look good. I think our job is basically to show how the candidate looks for that day and I don’t know - I have heard the same thing. On the road you hear a lot about what - how different news organizations put certain candidates in different light and how well they look. You know, that moment there with Senator Clinton, you know, it - probably not the most flattering picture of her but that was the mood she was. She went back to the gym. This was a rally in the identical spot that Senator Obama had been in the day before and she had a crowd that equaled his and I think that she was just - she was, you know, very excited about it and she looked to somebody in the crowd, you know, like I’m here, gave a wink. First time I’ve seen that - I didn’t see it the entire three weeks. It was one day I saw it.

LAMB: Back to the Senator McCain situation now, the scar on his face, sometimes - some days you see it, some days you don’t.

MILLS: It all depends on the lighting with Senator McCain. It all depends on the lighting, how he’s lit. And interestingly enough, when he does his town - when he goes to events, he does his town hall meetings much like in a studio like this, so the light’s - bright light’s on the candidate and a lot of times they’re looking out into a room where they can’t see one face, one eye. He is - he’s adamant about turning the lights down. I want the lights turned down so I can see into the eyes of the - of the people I’m talking to. Senator Clinton does the same thing. Her lights - there are not a lot of lights in her town hall meetings. It’s very low key, so it’s, you know, to make it really feel like a town hall meeting, rather than a campaign event. And that’s very difficult to do because of the TV

LAMB: Who - over time, who has had - and I - does John McCain wear a lot of makeup to cover up the scar?

MILLS: He - I - he doesn’t wear - there was a picture early on that I showed of him getting the makeup put on. I don’t think she - the woman who was putting on the makeup there wasn’t putting it on the scar, just on the top of his head and someone else told me that she also puts on sun screen cause he’s obviously very sensitive to his skin, or to the sun, so he gets a lot of sun screen put on him before he goes out. So I don’t think the, you know, I saw that scar the other day and I took pictures of it, just like, you know, and if he turns his head to the left just a little bit, it’s really pronounced. If he turns it to the right, it’s not …

LAMB: Is there a politician that you’ve followed that always is made up?

MILLS: Always made up?

LAMB: Of course, women usually wear more makeup than men.

MILLS: Yes, they do. And you’d be surprised. Men - the male candidates wear quite a bit of makeup, too, especially when they do interviews, one on ones, not necessarily at a lot of events, outdoor events or anything like that. They do wear makeup.

LAMB: Can you remember a - one of the candidates that wore it all the time, even though they weren’t particularly on a television interview?

MILLS: Let’s see. Let me think.

LAMB: If you can’t …

MILLS: I know Speaker Pelosi wears a lot of makeup, you know, and I think that’s just how she is. She just wears a lot of makeup. I think Senator Clinton is on and, you know, she doesn’t wear - it’s not consistent. She doesn’t, you know, for TV I think she’s - she definitely looks different on election night. You can see some of her outfits look different. She has, you know, the nice collars on her shirts that are, you know, the great colors. She knows how to pick colors. Senator Obama, same with the ties, he’s got great, you know, colors in his shirts also and that makes a big difference. This picture, Senator Clinton, you know, this woman, you know, it’s amazing what people do. Come sign, you know, this, sign this and this woman said could you please sign my son’s - the back of his onesie here? She’s like are you sure? She said yes, yes, just below right where his diaper is and she did. She obliged.

LAMB: Let’s look at this video we were talking about. This is shot by Signa Taylor (ph), who is a freelancer in Vermont for us in New Hampshire and you have this little relationship with this woman.

MILLS: It happens quite often; I tell you.

LAMB: It was just a Hillary supporter - a Hillary Clinton supporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Well, hot (ph). That’s my spot.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: OK. I’m going to …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Oh my.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I’ve been here for two hours.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: How about here’s 20 bucks. I’ll buy it from you.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: No way.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I’m kidding.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: No way.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Are you - do you take pictures? You’re welcome to take pictures for me.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: How many hours have you been here?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Two and a half.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Two and a half. How late is she? She’s about an hour late?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Hour and a half.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Hour and a half. How many people are here?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: There is nothing that says press here that I wouldn’t do.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Big round of applause for …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: You’re welcome to come on up. We’d love to have you. Sorry.

CLINTON: What will I do about global warming? Well, the first thing is …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I hope I don’t lose my balance.

CLINTON: … you’ll have a President who will actually say the words, global warming.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: If you lose your balance I’ll be happy to catch you. Am I cramping your space here? I’m sorry.

CLINTON: And you know, it is …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I’ll be out of here. What town are we in? What town is this?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What town is this?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Hampton.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Hampton. We got it, thank you. We go through so many of them. You like that?

CLINTON: … solar and wind because I will actually pay attention to …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: (INAUDIBLE)

CLINTON: … small business. If you’re a small business, you cannot afford healthcare that is going to be a quality that will in turn be affordable to buy for employees and nine-tenths of the time …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: I noticed (ph) so I could see all the politicians come through (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: You get a whole month or two months of it.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: This is the only …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: That you’re following?

CLINTON: … because what the health insurance companies do is to try to keep those small businesses, you know, kind of isolated, one from the other …

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: She’s the - she’s the one.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: She’s the one and there you go (ph).

CLINTON: … you know, you go buy it and you go buy it, but we’re not going to …

(END VIDEO)

LAMB: Do you have any other situations like this you can remember?

MILLS: Oh, yes, it happens, again, quite a bit where you roll into these events and much of the audience has been there for hours and either because of the Secret Service requirements that they have to be there early or the candidate’s late and the last thing you want to do is go and sit in front of somebody that has been there and you’re going to block their view and, you know, they have this image and they want to be there, so a lot of times your thing is no, no, you can’t sit here, you can’t site here, but you have to tell them what you’re doing and try and be as, you know, as kind to them and explain what you’re doing and normally we won’t stay very long at an event, you know, in one spot, so we just - we try and do our best to accommodate the people who have been there for hours just to see this candidate for an hour.

LAMB: On a regular basis, who’s the latest to these events?

MILLS: The latest.

LAMB: Who comes late?

MILLS: Who comes late? Well, Senator - or President Clinton used to - was notoriously late. He was - he was always late. Senator Clinton is better on time. Because their day is so filled now, I think, with stops and schedules to keep up, whether it’s, you know, a campaign visit or a TV interview that they have to do or meeting with reporters, they try and keep to the schedule but it happens.

LAMB: Who’s always on time?

MILLS: George - well, George Bush, now - the President right now is always on time and a lot of times early. President Reagan was always on time. He always had a saying; I’m not keeping people waiting. I do not do that. I will be on time. Let’s see, who else?

LAMB: Well think about it. We’ll show some more of your political photos. You have a picture here of Bill Clinton and George Herbert Walker Bush in the Oval Office. When was this taken and why?

MILLS: This was taken after the tsunami, when they were put in charge to head a relief group to go over and see the situation, raise funds for them and the President introduced them in the - in the Oval Office and then they had a press conference afterwards and when they walked and left the President standing in there, you know, the two former Presidents looked like they were, you know, college roommates and best buddies or golfing partners here. So their relationship is very unique.

This was back during the Clinton/Gore campaign. Both look so young there, don’t they? Now this is - I covered the Gore campaign for President and this is onboard Air Force Two, lightening up things a little bit, throw - he would throw a football through - down the aisle at different people. This was on; I believe this was Tipper’s birthday. They had a big celebration one night. I think - talk about being late, I think we were three hours late for this event, you know. It was after midnight, this - and they were having a great time, big celebration. That’s another picture.

LAMB: Were you lucky with this picture?

MILLS: I was very - it was a very windy day. I saw the flags blowing back and forth, back and forth and …

LAMB: What happened to this photo?

MILLS: That was in the paper. Yes, that was - that was well received, just cause it was very different, you know.

LAMB: And you were working for which organization?

MILLS: The AP - Associated Press at that time.

LAMB: And so that would be fed out to how many thousands of papers around the world?

MILLS: Oh, thousands of clients, right, right, yes. Thousands, all over the U.S. and in Europe.

LAMB: And did the - now, what is this photo?

MILLS: This is a picture that was taken when President Clinton was in office and in Hawaii. We were traveling overseas and he stopped in Hawaii and this was a picture that they weren’t real happy about that I had taken because I was the only one down on the beach at the time. I went for a walk on the beach and President was out there in the water and didn’t have my camera at the time and walked back up, got my camera, brought it down and that’s Chelsea on the left and one of her girlfriends on the right and they were out just playing Frisbee in the water. Nobody ever said don’t take any pictures, you know, and there was a rule about the beach being public beach, yet the water was public, but yet the area where I was standing was private, so Secret Service was fine with it. I was not a threat and nobody …

LAMB: And how did you know they weren’t happy with it?

MILLS: The next day when it ended up on the - it was at a bad time for the President politically because in Iowa there were some huge floods going on and later he flew there, but, you know, there was a contrasting picture of the floods and what was going on there and then the President out playing in the water.

LAMB: Explain this one.

MILLS: This was during President Bush’s last campaign. We frequently saw that board - the W and …

LAMB: But that’s the Wisconsin board.

MILLS: Right, no, that’s for - it is for Wisconsin. You’re right, but then he does the victory and he would put up three for W, which is one of his trademarks and just very different, you know. This was a better to be lucky than good picture here. This was after one of the heated debates with President Bush and Senator Kerry and the President was walking over to shake hands with him and I was photographing the President as he walked over and somebody in the audience took a picture with their, you know, what we call happy snaps - one of the amateur cameras and the flash went off and threw a reflection of Senator Kerry on the back wall. I didn’t know I had taken it until I looked at my disk. I was like oh, my gosh, how did that happen?

LAMB: Now this is one I remember being in the paper.

MILLS: This was, yes, this was a big hit. This was when Karl Rove was in a little hot water at the White House and under the microscope for a number of things and he was frequently driving in and out of the White House and this was a picture that was taken just outside the White House gates with a really long lens and he had - I was looking for him actually inside the gates, walking to his car and all of the sudden from behind me, I hear this toot of a really loud horn and he was driving a Jaguar and it has a really loud horn. It scared the daylights out of me, so I turned around and I looked and there was Karl Rove in the car and I was looking for him inside the gate, so as he drove up, obviously the Secret Service asks for everybody’s ID and he rolled down the window so the agent could see who he was and then opened up. So he looked back just for a split second through his rear view mirror or his side view mirror there and was able to capture that.

LAMB: And this photo, how - you have to plan this one in advance, I would think.

MILLS: You do. You - and that, again, that starts with the Secret Service and the staff. The staff has to be willing. There’s a bar - a light bar that goes up probably three hours before this news conference takes place and the e-mail and the conversations take place either the day before or that morning to get permission.

LAMB: And where are we?

MILLS: We’re in the East Room in the White House and that picture was taken with a remote camera. I’m actually in the background of that picture, taking the picture with a remote control as he walked out. And the camera was set up there, pre-focused. I had tested it and then luckily, when he walked through, I fired it.

LAMB: How long did it take you to get them to agree to do that?

MILLS: Depending on the - I would say probably about an hour or two. It goes through all the process, you know.

LAMB: And our last photo.

MILLS: This was from one of the debates when Senator Clinton was over on the left and three on right - Obama, Edwards and Richardson were all being criticized for ganging up on her at the debate and it just so happened, after the debate was over, she went one way and they all stood and talked and so it was …

LAMB: Quick summary.

MILLS: Sure.

LAMB: You use your Apple computer.

MILLS: Yes.

LAMB: What kind?

MILLS: PowerBook G4.

LAMB: And you use how - what kind of cameras?

MILLS: Canon - Canon Mark IIIs and five gigs.

LAMB: You’ve been with the ”New York Times” for six years and …

MILLS: Six years.

LAMB: … native of Arlington, Virginia.

MILLS: That’s correct.

LAMB: Thirty seconds of advice to somebody who wants to do what you do.

MILLS: Thirty seconds to - OK. I would say start early. Shoot as - I try and help students now. Shoot as many pictures as you can. Take as many classes as you can. Get to know professional photographers and do your best to listen to what they have to say. Ask for advice. There are no stupid questions in this business. You can ask as many questions - that was the one thing that was taught to me early on. There are no stupid questions. Ask as many questions - if you have a question, ask a professional photographer. They’re always willing to help you and it’s a great business. I’ve got the greatest job in the world. I really do.

LAMB: Doug Mills, thanks for doing this for us.

MILLS: My pleasure, Brian. Thank you for having me.