Those who clear out their old attics occasionally stumble across a family heirloom or treasured antique. Perhaps the generations of days past knew the value of something after a lifetime of enjoying it, and saved it for their kin. But some discoveries fall outside of this typical paradigm. Consider the young adult who stows away his unpublished photographs of Louis Armstrong, only to see them resurface forty years later.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, for that is precisely what veteran photographer, race car driver, cave diver, and now cinematographer Bill Carlson did nearly four decades ago after a full session of photographing the great Satchmo. When asked about why his archive sat untouched, Carlson offers an explanation that borders on the eccentric:

"I think I really got distracted. I left Minneapolis in March of 1967 to work for Camera Hawaii, and then started freelancing for Time Life. From there my life changed completely. Photographers typically look towards the next image and not the last image. And if you sold an image to an editor, magazine or advertising agency, terrific. But then you just move on and it's very hard sometimes to think about the historic relevance."

Assessing the arc of his lifelong pursuits -- which include still-photography, professional car racing, cave diving, and cinematography -- one can better comprehend Carlson's apparent lack of retrospection. A freelancer with an impressive portfolio at an age when most teenagers are worried about the prom, the precocious Carlson was keen on applying the lessons of seasoned photographers during the Armstrong concert in 1966:

"There was a Life Magazine photographer who wrote an article and said that if you go to an event, see where all the photographers are, and then go somewhere else. And that just stuck with me, because if you look at a press conference, for example, all of the photographers are clustered together and they are bascially all getting the same shot. And so I think the Louis Armstrong concert was probably the first time I really applied that lesson, where I looked at where all of the photographers were and shot a few shots, and then I went where they were not."

"A security guard checked my credentials to see if I was authorized to be backstage. As I was shooting off some more film, he looked at me and said, 'You know, these aren't going to turn out.' And I said, 'really?' (Carlson smirks.) And he said, 'Yeah, you're shooting into the light.' I think that having heard that comment, I became more adventurous in terms of breaking free from the crowd, taking photographic risks, and not depending upon other people to dictate the photo that I was going to take."