NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) – The Town Hall Lecture Series wrapped up its final speaker for the season at North Platte Playhouse on Monday.

The series featured speakers from all across the world. North Platte Residents filled the theater to hear photographer and storyteller for National Geographic Magazine, Steve Uzzell, give his Open Roads Open Minds speech.

“The first Open is an adjective. The second Open is a verb. An open road will open your mind,” said Uzzell. “Nobody quite knows why, but anybody who’s driven on an open road, your mind can’t help but wonder, and as it wanders, you will find solutions to things you had never, ever, ever thought of.”

Uzzell’s speech details the creative problem-solving process. He believes that’s what connects us all. As a society, we all spend our day somewhere in the creative problem-solving process. Uzzell illustrates that process through photographs taken from his photo assignments.

As of Tuesday, Uzzell has delivered his speech 647 times in all 50 states. He’s also presented in Alaska once, three Provinces of Canada, and five other countries, including China and India, with a mixed audience of about 650,000 people.

Uzzell shared why he continues to pick up his camera and open the lens.

“I absolutely love the process. There is something incredible and difficult to define in words,” said Uzzell. “Other than to say it’s a discovery every day. Whether it’s a new place or a new culture or a new person or a new event or how the connections that all of us have as human beings share how all of that gets connected, that’s what I am asked to explore and document, and the same things for you, that’s why I keep doing it.”

Uzzell’s influence extends beyond his photography. He is one of four photographers who played a pivotal role in the late 70s, working on Capitol Hill to pass the Copyright Act. This legislation, which allows creators to protect their original work, has extremely impacted the photography industry.

“Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to copyright what you write or photograph; you wouldn’t be able to copyright what you shoot and edit,” said Uzzell. Nobody who is an original creator would be able to own what they do, and we worked very hard for that to happen.”

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