David R. Stoecklein Biography:
David Stoecklein's sharply detailed photographs of the American Cowboy transport the viewer onto rolling prairies under a boundless blue sky where on can almost taste the dust and smell the gathering storm clouds. His work is a paean to the hardworking, honest, original American hero.
His rich color photographs celebrate the sweat and grime and back-breaking work of a long, lonely life. The cowboys he photographs live on the wide open spaces that the rest of us crave to experience. They sleep deeply, under black skies sprinkled with brilliant stars, exhausted by the rough life they choose to lead. Their functional headgear and working garb is copied the world over by wanna-bes. These ordinary cowhands were what inspired Stoecklein to live in the West, on a ranch in the midst of cowboy country, and dedicate his work to capturing the mystique and straightforward lifestyle of these uniquely American icons.