In 1855, Walt Whitman self-published the first edition of Leaves of Grass, featuring the twelve poems that would later be titled “Song of Myself.” Students in the first year of Photography respond to his entreaty:

“You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books. You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, you shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.”