Samuel Grant Smith writes: "The joy of capturing an image in such a way as to convey a physical location, a mood, or a point in history is something I can't seem to do without. The challenge to do so with more accuracy and more gravity than in the previous shot is a constantly moving goalpost, one that I likewise can't help but pursue." Sam is a student at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he is concentrating on biology and photojouralism. He is the online editor of The Herald, ASU's student newspaper.

Bard Cole writes: Recently I made Sam watch Harmony Korine's Gummo, which I think is one of the most beautifully photographed movies of the last fifteen years. I completely forgot about how horrified I was about the dead cats in the movie the first time I saw it but I remembered when it horrified Sam. He seemed skeptical when I told him it was fake. You certainly never see a cat get killed in the movie. I believe that the prop master ordered a cardboard box full of dead cats from a catalog. I know that such a thing exists because my 10th grade biology teacher once asked me to help her carry a box from her car and the top flap was loose and I could see it was filled with Styrofoam peanuts. As I carried it up the stairs the peanuts shifted and I saw a stiff cat foot. They were the specimens for her 12th grade class to dissect.