As a child, I began taking pictures with my dad’s clunky old camera. Even at a young age, I found myself intrigued by life’s subtle nuances: the patterns in everyday items, nature’s vast color palate, and the endless juxtapositions of old and new, natural and artificial, rich and poor. After catching the travel bug, I took my nascent interest in photography on the road. Exposed to things I could not discover in Kansas City and its environs, I found the possibilities for exploration virtually limitless.

The pictures in this exhibit are among the fruits of seven months of travel that took place during October 1999-May 2000. Heading westward from the US, I visited Thailand, Nepal, Israel/Palestine, Senegal, Morocco and Western Europe before returning home. While these photos cannot possibly reflect all that I experienced during my travels, they provide a small glimpse into the worlds through which I passed. Thanks to photography, I feel that I gained a better understanding of that which I saw and experienced, as it allowed me to get closer to the places and people. In fact, many of my best photographs of people became instant gifts, as a Polaroid camera was one of my favorite photo accessories.

During my studies at The Fletcher School, I will be building on my academic background in international relations and African studies to pursue a MALD in international environmental resource policy and development economics. I also hope to expand on a three-month internship with ENDA-TM in Senegal, where I worked on renewable energy applications in rural West Africa. As I continue my studies and follow a still unknown career path, I hope to continue using photography as a means to better understand the world and all of its diverse cultures and landscapes.

Sam Milton
MALD '04

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Photographers: Bessoff | Goel | Masood | Milton | Murphy | Rinne

© 2003 The Fletcher School, Tufts University