❝It has been quite a few years since I’ve worked with Mike on a project but that in no way diminishes the memory.

It was always the same – the arrival – the greeting – the conversation – the goodbye.

His office was one of many at National Geographic. It was a left off the hall — stepping from fluorescent into incandescent. That’s important for one who sees for a living, the color shifted from public to private, from noise to listening. He always had music playing – jazz or blues or some esoteric bit of sound. It set the tone in ways other than the obvious. The office, a place of commerce, schedules and budgets became a space for storytelling, listening, deepening.

In this way Mike would guide the story. First in understanding the narrative then in selecting the images in a collaborative spirit. 

I imagine he is even better at this process today.

Sit next to him if you want to learn, if you want your work to sing. Sit and listen. ❞

– Lynn Johnson, photojournalist