This is the story of my coming of age during tumultuous times and of how the gift of a camera helped to bring the world, and my own place within it, into focus. It explores how I saw the world through the lens as I exited adolescence and entered adulthood, and how I view those same images today, some 50 years later. Like many stories, it contains competing narratives that exist simultaneously: tragedy and despair, discovery and illumination. It’s a story that is both specific to my personal journey and universal in its exploration of how our perspectives change over time.