Ranch Country photography
by Robert McCune

My name is Robert McCune. Welcome to this website of Ranch Country photographs and Faces of a Powwow. Also included are two books I've written; GUARDIANS OF THE LAND, and THE HILLS AROUND US: KOREA 1950-1951. And in Episode format, the website presents photo-essay accounts of the Backroad adventures my wife and I experience exploring the American West. 

My wife Maggie is a partner in this enterprise. We live in the seaside town of Trinidad (population 297) on the far northcoast of California. Our home is a shingle-sided cottage that began as a storage shed for commercial fishing gear at the mouth of the Mad River where it empties into the Pacific Ocean a few miles south of Trinidad. 

My interest in photography took a serious turn in 1998, when Maggie and I embarked on a seven and a half months journey on the less traveled roads of the American West. We camped on 19 ranches in 15 states and visited with the owners and ranch-hands. The vehicle that takes us on these adventures is an Econoline 150 work van, converted to basic  living conditions. We call it SHADOW CATCHER.

Other than wearing the hat of an in-the-field photographer, I served four years in the Air Force and was discharged with the rank of staff sergeant at age 20. Then 21 years as a Deputy Sheriff and District Attorney's Investigator with the County of Los Angeles, followed by a few years as a long-line commercial fisherman working out of San Pedro, California.  Then several years as a house painter here on California's northcoast.

My LOG CABIN WINDOW and DISCOVERY BAY CANNERY photos have been jury-selected for showing at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, California. Other photos have appeared in PhotoMagazine. The Ranch Country series of black & white photos has also been shown at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. The Faces of a Powwow collection has also been shown at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. The powwow photos aren't for sale. 

My move into the digital world of photography has been a long time in the making. Some of the black and white images were taken in the late 1980's with a Nikon 6006 35mm, using T-Max 100 film.  Beginning in 2006, I've been using the following equipment: