Monday, January 7, 2013

Mockville Guest Ranch, Mercer, MO




Mercer, MO


Mockville Guest Ranch is located near the town of Mercer in the wild and beautiful countryside of northwest Missouri. Glen and Connie Mock, the owners and our generous hosts run this working ranch year round in all weather and also maintain it's six secluded log cabins of various sizes, all of which are hidden in small clearings in the surrounding woodlands. These charming cabins are basic, clean and comfortable, yet equipped with excellent amenity's and available to privately rent for weekends away or longer. It's a truly beautiful place and it was where my wife and I decided to spend our 4th wedding anniversary in April last year. 

Though located within only ten miles from local towns and the old Amish settlement of Jamsesport, the feeling I got when entering the ranch was a strangely surreal one and was very much like taking a step back in time and I found the stress, pressure and pace of modern life fall away soon after my arrival. Time became itself, present, vast and still and accompanied only by the sounds of running creeks, bird calls and lazy insects. When we arrived, after driving for some time without any GPS signal on narrow winding roads with handwritten directions, we were finally met by Glen, who was standing on the porch of his ranch-house waiting for us, with dog at his side and dressed authentically like an old time Settler or Sheriff, complete with waist-coat, pocket watch and fob, collarless shirt, dusty hat and muddy boots and sporting a long white handlebar mustache. This was no costume either, but his preferred year around daily attire, all hand made by his wife Connie. After a warm welcome we were invited into their beautiful home which was constructed by themselves, and led directly into his saloon-like bar for a beer where we got to know each other and later kindly shown his beautiful collection of hand crafted knives which were made by Glen himself and just one of his many hobbies. 

Throughout our stay Glen and Connie were generous and accommodating and supplied us with fresh egg's and venison steaks. And, as we were the only one's staying at the cabins at that time, we were taken out riding for several hours on some of the 10 miles of trails which wind through timber, beside seasonal creeks, steep trails with great views along the Weldon River and across open fields.


This is the note I left in the guestbook:
 
What a wonderful trip. Where one of my childhood dreams of America came true. To ride with an old time Sheriff and cowboy in a beautiful and remote country. Through woodlands, along streams, stopping to pick mushrooms and followed by unsaddled horses and led by a dog. Like travelling back through time to a more pure and simple place. What a gift this was, thank you. 

The cabin is beautiful and a joy to spend time in. On our first evening we were joined by a lovely long-haired smoky Cat - hungry and affectionate, which slept on the porch every night. I love the silence and stillness of this place; the clear skies filled with stars and the strange noises coming from the darkness of the woods at night. So nice to let go, feel peace, find space and surrender. Thank you for your warm welcome and generosity throughout our stay. What wonderful memories we have made. The perfect location for our 4th anniversary. 


Thursday, December 27, 2012

VIEW magazine, Issue 5

VIEW-Magazine-issue-5-1

Recently I was contacted by VIEW magazine who had selected 11 of my photographs which they wanted to publish along side features by several other photographer's in their interactive, I-Pad only, portfolio journal. The images they had chosen, for issue number 5, were from my on-going body of work made in America and were selected from my Flickr photo-stream which covers almost 5 years of largely unedited material. Their final edit was, because of this, an unusual one and personally speaking  it was not entirely the photographs I would have suggested as being truly representative of my overall vision and I understand this must have been a difficult task for them. The selection does cover, though sparsely, the entire 5 years, and I was happy to find that it also included a few of my latest photographs, made in Florida earlier this year, which I intend to write a separate post about shortly. My decision to be part of this magazine was because I have never been involved in this branch of publishing before and find the interactive element and the technology involved exciting with interesting potential(s).

Flamingo, FL
Flamingo City, FL, 2012


Cape Canaveral, FL
Cape Canaveral, FL, 2012


"VIEW is an art photography magazine developed for the iPad by multimedia design studio, FusionLab. Partner and photographer, Alon Koppel, tightly curates this magazine with great works from around the globe by photographers he knows personally or discovers on the web."


Jefferson City, MO
Jefferson City, MO

Please follow this link to download this issue of View magazine:

Alternatively a non interactive, but free PDF of the entire issue can be seen here, where you will also find the work of the other photographers involved, some of which are excellent:
Untitled
Miles, Overland Park, KS

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

A short interview with 'One Giant Arm' Magazine.



Grand Canyon, AZ
         Grand Canyon, AZ


Where are you from and where do you currently reside?

I was born in Middlesbrough, England, but raised in Hampshire and Dorset until finally settling in Brighton. later after some years spent traveling I now live in Overland Park, Kansas. I have been in the USA for just over four years.


Untitled
         Rest Stop, KY


What inspires you to make photographs and what is your process?

Being an outsider America has come as a great inspiration to me photographically. The act of orientation itself still continues to be exciting and insightful, weather it has been exploring the neighborhood where I live, or throughout the country as a whole. I'm interested in both the America inside, which I brought with me from England (with all it's myths and legends) and also the America that I'm actually discovering out on the road now I'm here. I am also inspired deeply by the space, or the mystery, which arises from the ether between the two, where my own personal vision is being created and shaped daily through my experiences.


Lost (Middlesboro, KY)
Lost, KY


Do you work or study as a photographer?

In 96 I attended the BA (honors) degree in Editorial Photography at Brighton Uni and graduated with a 1st. I have not worked much in the field professionally, but I've enjoyed the few private commissions I've had. My true passion though, comes from my own personal projects, of which there have been several.


Panhandle, TX
Panhandle, TX

Broadway, KC
Broadway, KC

Legends Mall, KS
Legends Mall, KS


Do you have any projects, publications, news or events coming up?

The main subject of my work is America, but this is always splintering into various sub-projects which take me down different avenues of exploration. Right now I am working on a psycho-geographical survey of Overland Park, the city in which I live and I am also editing another series called 'American Idol' which is almost ready for publication at 'Get The Picture', the photo collective I am a member of. I also curate a Flickr group called 'Altered States of Agoraphobia' which is a public extension of my personal work here in the U.S. and it is made up of work submitted by what I call it's "Resident Aliens". This group is filled with some inspired photographs made by some very talented photographers, who are also invited to put together features using images from the group pool plus a relevant text. These features have also been published at the excellent photography website 'La Pura Vida'. The ASA group, as it has come to be known, also has it's own blog and is linked closely with my own blog of the same name. Presently I am very close to opening another chapter to the ASA project titled 'American Invasion', which will be an investigation into the influence of America (for better or worse) on the native culture and environment of country's outside the U.S. It's a project I am very excited about.

I also have a photo-book in the works, which will be published by PogoBooks, a publisher and gallery based in Berlin. The final edit for this book is now getting close to being finished and will be titled 'Foreign Bodies'. If all goes to plan it will be published at the end of the summer.


NYC
NYC

Logan, WV
Logan County, WV

Links:
Original (edited) Interview@One Giant Arm:
ASA(II) Blog:
ASA@La Pura Vida:
Get The Picture:
Pogo Books: