#7 Meet you in Manhattan.

This week I met two astonishing men (neither of which were Vladimir Putin). My studio hosts occasional seminars for professional photographers, and there was such an event this Wednesday.

First up was Dr. Stanley Burns, owner of the most celebrated private photographic archive in America. His Upper West Side digs house some 700,000 photographs of historical importance.

I cannot understate how much importance. He showed us the only surviving photograph of the 20,000 strong crowd watching America's last public hanging. He showed us a huge collection of Holocaust imagery, from albums of SS soldiers showing men having their beards shaved, to a Parisian serial killer who ensnared victims on the promise of providing safe passage to America. He has an astonishing collection of medical imagery - the first corneal graft, the first open brain surgery under local anaesthetic, and so on.

At the lecture he showed a lot of images which have yet to be shown anywhere. A major exhibition on the history of the American civil rights movement, for example, will go ahead at the Met in 2012.

Corbis, the US image library, apparently offered his $30 million for the collection a couple of years ago. Anyway, should your interest be piqued, you can read more at .

Next up was a British photographer called Platon, most famous for his portraits of world leaders. Why the one word moniker, I do not know. Not a lot to say, other than that his work is fabulous, and you should check it out here: .

He was original skyrocketed to fame by the photograph of Putin above, which featured on the cover of time, and won first prize at the World Press Photo competition.

#5 I'm leaving.

Nah, just kidding. April fooling and all that. I thought, for once, I'd actually write about photography.

I started work a week ago now. This week there were two big projects. Firstly, we photographed some kiddywinks as part of the 'Growing Up Project'. The idea is to document childhood by photographing a cohort of children once a year. Some of them came under the spotlight when they were bumps (literally: Howard has done a series of pregnancy studies), and have stayed there for a decade or more. You can see some of the pictures here.

Secondly, we photographed a young gentleman by the name of Greg Jones for the good people at ESPN Magazine. He is a man of terrifying proportions: 255 pounds, 6'1", with a wild tangle of dreadlocks. He has just signed an $18 million contract for the next few years, apparently. He was chosen for this feature because he is exquisitely muscled. G-dawg (I didn't call him this to his face very much) had none of the swagger that you might expect such potency and wealth would afford you; he was modest. Meek. Sheepish. Pliant.

Anyway, it was all very cool, not least the fantastic breakfast and lunch spreads that come with client work. Let us hope Howard abandons all this fine art shit and carries on photographing athletes and actors.

#0 The American dream.

I first went to America when I was seven. Modern media may have eroded the adult American Dream, but for a seven-year-old it is alive and well - Disney World, impossibly large milkshakes, bright colours and loud noises.

The attraction this time round is pretty much the same, to be honest, though I've replaced Disney World with SoHo, New York's artistic quarter. I will be working for a year at the Schatz-Ornstein Studio, owned by Howard Schatz, one of America's most eminent fine art photographers. I will be drinking impossibly large milkshakes. And I will be living in the Ganas Community on Staten Island, in an attempt to experience a qualitatively different way of life. Well, honestly, it's more because the rents are lower than Fergie's Apple Bottoms, but hopefully it will broaden my narrow Cantabrigian horizons a little, too.

Because I like sharing these things, and have taken a shine to journalism recently, I will be documenting my experiences here as 'Lettuce From America', a none-too-subtle homage to that great transatlantic correspondent, Alastair Cooke. Lettuce From America will include all manner of inane prattle and media content, like all the best blogs.

I shan't lie, I'm scared. First there was the revelation that Americans don't drink tea; then the bombshell that they don't own electric kettles. If that weren't enough, I've just been told their light switches are the other way up. Clearly these are a people I will have to be very cautious of.

In spite of my reservations, I will be leaving in a week.

Sam



P.S. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a 21-year-old would-be photographer from Manchester, England. Other interests include psychology (my degree subject), politics (I post on The Guardian's 'Comment is Free' site as samuelpalin, if you're ever over that way), and many other far less cerebral things.

Images are © Howard Schatz