Paul Mobley traveled 100,000 miles and spent three years photographing hundreds of farmers and ranchers all over America. American Farmer, published in 2008, was instantly chosen as one of the top ten art and photography books of the year. While showing photographs, Paul tells the stories behind the pictures of America’s unsung heroes; the men and women who put food on our table.
Audiences laugh, cry, and are inspired as he moves from story to story, farm to farm, ranch toranch from Alaska to Louisiana and Florida to Maine. Paul has spoken to several State Farm Bureau Conventions all over America. At the National AFBF Convention in January 2009, he presented to a standing room only audience. In May 2009, he accepted the Western Heritage Award in Oklahoma City from The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
In 2005 Paul set out to capture the soul of rural America. Traveling across the country Mobley and his camera were welcomed time and again into the homes of over three hundred farm families who graciously shared their personal histories and private thoughts, along with the fruits of their labor.
Paul’s presentation is an entertaining, inspiring pictorial journey of a city boy who traveled 100,000 miles and spent three years photographing hundreds of farmers and ranchers all over America.
While showing photographs, Paul tells the stories behind the pictures of America’s unsung heroes; the men and women who put food on our table. Audiences laugh, cry, and are inspired as he moves from story to story, farm to farm, ranch to ranch from Alaska to Louisiana and Florida to Maine.
From Walter Jackson, a 104-year-old Florida citrus farmer; to Patsy Fribley, a stockyard dealer from Montana; to Aaron Bell, a young 9th generation organic dairy farmer in Maine, Mobley’s exquisite photographs and narrative reveal the true face of American farming and remind us what it means to live with simplicity, contentment, and decency in a world that so often forgets. Visit after visit, Mobley came to know the independent farmer’s spirit from both behind the lens and across the dinner table. The result, American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country, won the 2009 Western Heritage award for “best photography book” from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
“Paul’s presentation will leave your group uplifted, with a renewed belief in family, friendship and connections. Be prepared to laugh and cry!”
