"My passion for photography and this beautiful land we call the South West has lead to this penultimate project. I hope for so much for all my friends involved and hope to gain from a new and refreshing vision. A vision that will be shared under big skies, bold moonlit nights and through never ending memories.

I hope my narrative and emotion * and the historical portraits taken by Richard Knapp will spill over into other people's lives so that all may feel the sense of unity and inspiration that we will experience during these fourteen glorious days in America"

I am delighted and truly pleased to have Richard Knapp as principle photographer, collaborator and friend who I sincerely believe in. He will produce the greatest collection of striking portraits ever seen. His photography moves me like no other has ever had with incredible depth and emotion that will take this project into the history books. Richard's information and portfolio can be seen at www.lighthouse-elements.com.

David Gibbons, April 2004

America and Americans, nothing has inspired me more as a photographer. My wife and I spend most or our free time during and between shoots traveling the back roads of our great country to discover who we are as a nation. My passion for photography began with a road trip through the Pacific Northwest in 1992.

When David extended the invitation to me to photograph "the face of freedom", it was like continuing the journey that I had already started. To photograph a hundred people a day cast in full light against the same backdrop is how I plan to expose the differences and the similarities that unite us. I want to capture my subjects at the moment they enter the studio, before I get a chance to project my own conceptions of who they are into the image. A stark and immediate portrait of a nation is what I will produce.

Richard Knapp, April 2004

Chris LaMont is a multitalented filmmaker, who has written and directed independent short and feature films in a variety of formats and genre, a sought-after industrial and educational director, and founder and leader of one of the fastest-growing Film Festivals in the United States.

Chris has directed several feature-length films, including his latest, "Quality Time" staring Nancy Allen ("Robocop"), Corin Nemec ("Parker Lewis Can't Lose"), John DeLancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Bruce Weitz ("The West Wing") and Meredith Salenger ("Lake Placid").

In 2000, he co-founded the Phoenix Film Festival, which has become a staple of the cultural landscape of the Valley of the Sun, and the Phoenix Film Foundation. He also created the Phoenix Film Project - a local filmmaker community group, and is launching the Phoenix Film Society for filmgoers across Arizona in 2004.

Chris has won numerous awards including an Emmy, several Tellies and MCAI awards for his work with Arizona State University. He recently appeared on the Discovery Channel's series "Monster House" and created video work for The Dial Corporation, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, the Arizona Supreme Court, and Arizona State University. He also hosts the national weekly radio program "The Hollywood Edge Radio Show" on the TalkOne radio network.