In the American Dreaming series, the images were printed by raising my enlarger up to about twelve feet from the printing paper and enlarging very small portions of the negative, perhaps 1/4 inch square. At this point I was pushing the limits of a conventional enlarging lens as far as it could go without producing optical aberrations, which I wouldn't accept. I realized that if I wanted to use even smaller portions of the original negative I would have to use a microscope. This method allowed me to enlarge very small areas of the negative onto another piece of film and make prints from that enlarged negative, without compromising the optical integrity of the original. I was deliberately emulating scientific methodology to ensure that I didn't introduce any flaws because of my instruments. I wanted the breakdown of the image to be the natural result of a neutral examination. I wanted the photographs to be fairly described as objective documents.