Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Preserving the wild in the Wild West

Stoecklein photography awarded ?Best of the West?


By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

?Splash ?n? Dash? Zollengar Ranch in Mackey, Idaho, 2006, by David Stoecklein. Photograph at Stoecklein Photography.

Capturing the feel and character of the West, David Stoecklein has spent more than two decades chronicling a changing landscape.

"The West has been constantly changing," he said. "When I first got here, my focus was more on lifestyles such as skiing, and then I started taking photographs of cowboys and horses. That was 23 years ago."

Stoecklein, the owner of Stoecklein Photography in Ketchum, has been awarded the 2007 Best Living Photographer by True West magazine for True West's fifth annual "Best of the West" source book. Dedicating his career to documenting the West, Stoecklein has earned an international reputation for his photography capturing the men and women who ride the range, work the cattle and make a living from the land.

"I was awarded a couple months ago, and it first came out in Christmas because my son, Taylor, saw it in the magazine and told me," said. "I've been awarded all kinds of things. Last year it was the Idaho Horse Council Hall of Fame."

grew up near Pittsburgh, Pa., around horses and riding. His passion for horses was rekindled when he moved to the West more than 38 years ago. "When I came, I wanted to get involved in the West as it was," he said. "Now it's changed the range, the fencing and most other things."

believes people who have moved from other parts of the country to the West have brought theses changes with them. "I try not to show the changes in my images, and I photograph everything," he said. "I've been documenting the West, and the people who are in my pictures. Many of them are no longer here. There are people who have passed away in my books, and that's what I'm trying to do is document the West as it is, and chronicle the West while I'm here."

With more than 35 books to his credit, has featured rodeo personalities, ranches, craftsman and much more living Western heritage in several series of books. He is constantly traveling around the country, including Hawaii where he did a book last year called "Cattle," which documents cattle ranches from Hawaii to Florida.

The recognition for his work means a great deal to Stoecklein, particularly because he wants to make the men and women he photographs proud. Entering the lives and forging relationships with the hard-working cowboys and cowgirls he photographs is essential to his work.

"There are specific geographic lifestyles, and Western life is one of them," he said. "It is wonderful that someone recognizes your work. When you do get recognized it puts things in perspective because people are watching you, and you want to keep doing better. However you measure success, I try to document it as it really is and not phony it up. When people give you an award it makes you want to be better."




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