Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
December 29, 2008

John LARSON is pictured, big as life, in a book of photography from a fancy New York City photographer.

"I tell everybody we're the centerfold," said LARSON. He and his twin brother Tom of Mount Ayr look out over a chest-high farm fence with mischievous blue eyes, their bald heads glowing in the morning sun.

They wear matching jeans and work shirts, Vise Grips holders dangling from their belts.

The book is "American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country" (Welcome Books, $50) by Paul MOBLEY, recently named one of Amazon.com's top 10 books of 2008.

Two other Iowa farm families made the book of 300 portraits in the giant-size book.

The LARSON twins, farmers of a 2,100-acre row crop and livestock operation in southern Iowa, typify the spirit of the American farmer that Mobley sought to capture - genuine, friendly, with a dry sense of humor.

Some photos are accompanied by text from writer Katrina FRIED. She had fun with the LARSONS.

They described fooling teachers in high school by taking the other's tests, trading girlfriends and other general twin horseplay, involving BB guns and fast cars. They finish each other's sentences.

"We aren't identical anymore," John said. "Two weeks ago I shut my left pointer finger in the pickup door. I've got an ugly pointer finger now."

Where some might see dirty fingernails and sun-damaged faces, MOBLEY saw the soul of America.

The photographer was burned out, taking highly stylized shots as a commercial photographer in the city, when he retreated to his second home in northern Michigan.

At a small café, he saw the grizzly face of pig farmer Don SCHMIDT and broke his vow to not take pictures on his self-imposed sabbatical.

"Why would you want to take a picture of an ugly, old guy like me?" SCHMIDT asked him.

"And that's how it started," said MOBLEY. "Most of them had never had their picture taken."

What followed was four years of traveling 100,000 miles across 37 states and taking 40,000 portraits of farmers.

"It just started with the faces. The genuine quality of farmers and ranchers is unvarnished and real," he said. "I also felt like they are unsung heroes. They provide for us every day. Wouldn't it be great to shine a light on these people?"

The photographs show farmers of not only corn and soybeans, but alligators and avocados. They are young and old, black and white and brown.

In their stories are the love of the land and dedication to their craft, which many said wasn't a job as much as a way of life.

The story is familiar to Iowans, but the photographs expertly create a feeling of their own.

The VORTHMANN family is a tribute to the togetherness and rootedness of Iowa farm families. They are a two-page shot of 87 members of the farm-based group in an 1800s barn near Treynor.

All but one live a short distance from each other and a dozen are active farmers. They range in age from Richard VORTHMANN, 87, to Kale VORTHMANN, age 6 months.

"It was during harvest and we left confirmation dishes in the sink," said Ann VORTHMANN, who painstakingly gathered the family for the shoot.

"I saw some great cousins you only see when there is a death. They showed up that day and it humbled me that everyone but five came.

"It's the history of our roots."

The shoot took five hours and the back row was standing on five bales of hay as an assistant held up teetering bales so no one would fall.

Another Iowa farmer, Brooke TURNER of near Clarinda, is pictured in front of a barn with his old dog.

"I found that great old barn door and I had to shoot it," MOBLEY said. "That damn dog wouldn't stay out of the picture. So we just said let's shoot it."

Turner's dog typified his experience across the country - with no plans, no heavy production - just a man and his camera trying to peek into the soul of America.

What he saw has stuck with him.

"I noticed such a kindness and compassion with farmers and their families," said MOBLEY. "I was really drawn to that."

Many are photographed with lines of sons and daughters who work side by side, including one of his favorites, a 15-year-old daughter resting her head on her father's shoulder out in the field. Another is of Edna PARKER of Indiana, who stayed on her farm alone until age 100 and died as the oldest person in the world (115) two weeks after the book was published.

The differences he saw across American farms were mostly in the lay of the land. The farmers from Alaska or Louisiana or Iowa were the same. He would describe them in three words: "Basic human kindness."

"I never met a farmer that was short or rude or egotistical," he said. "One alligator farmer didn't want to do what I wanted him to do - hold up two small alligators. Finally, he said, 'OK, get the damn alligators.' But when I sent him the photo later, he said, 'I just did it because I wanted to make you happy.' "

Even a grumpy farmer is good at heart. And, back in the city, he misses that basic human kindness.

"I still call them," he says, "because I miss them."

Photograph by Paul Mobley from American Farmer