My passion and inspiration for writing Beautiful Is America was inspired by a young lady by the name of Dorothy Washington, who asked me to take her wedding pictures. This was a dream come true. During that time, I owned a Polaroid camera and was not prepared for taking pictures. Dorothy said it was all she could afford. This was the beginning of my photography career. I have been taking pictures from that day to the present. As I continued to pursue my dream, I decided that I would like to start a business in photography, and the name of the business would be L. K. Photography. I begin to take wedding pictures, school pictures, pictures at church conventions, and souvenir pictures. After working over forty years as a photographer, I retired from General Motors with thirty-four years of service. My wife retired from St. John Hospital after twenty-eight years of service. We moved to Powder Springs, Georgia, after retirement. Once again, I started a new business in Georgia and changed the name to L. K. Photoshop. My wife and I began to work with day care services. We had fourteen day-care clients. We retired five years later for the second and final time. God has blessed us in the past and continues to do so. We are very blessed to be able to travel and see beautiful scenery around the world. We have traveled to all fifty states, enjoying and taking pictures of rock formations, magnificent waterfalls, lighthouses, the US Presidential Library and Museums, and historic sites. It is a joy and our desire to share this book with family and friends and the people of this great country.