--- description: Photographer Andrew Moore celebrates America's mythology title: A Visual Ode to the American Dream image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a11d758579d3496/698899da3c1639d77345dd50/37_homesteaders_treeandrew-moore-photography-america-landscape-south-rural-documentary-staged.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Visual Ode to the American Dream by [Michael Bucher](/author/michael-bucher/) ## Michael Bucher Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2016 10:31 AM CUT  Homesteaders' Tree. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2011. Homesteaders' Tree. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2011.Andrew Moore by [Michael Bucher](/author/michael-bucher/) ## Michael Bucher Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2016 10:31 AM CUT Documentary photographer Andrew Moore and pilot Doug Dean have spent the last 10 years flying over the 100th Meridian, which bisects the U.S. right down the middle from North to South. Often, as they embark on their plane, they don’t know what they’re looking for. But this time, as they were flying over the plains of Nebraska, they had a specific goal in mind: to find Uncle Teed, a 93-year-old sheep herder who has been living alone, off the grid, without hot water for the last 25 years. Moore had heard about the man after an acquaintance brought him to a local farmhouse dinner party, where guests compared farm-related scars and mangled limbs. Eventually finding Uncle Teed’s home from the air was only the beginning of their pursuit. They learned later from his sister that he was a cranky old man with a shotgun in the kitchen. Then they made contact with his nephew who passed along their interest to meet. When Uncle Teed, short for Teedie, finally invited them over, they landed their plane in his backyard. The resulting portrait is just one of the many photographs in Moore’s book _Dirt Meridian_ that tell the story of America’s seemingly boundless landscape. For this week’s cover story, “240 Things to Celebrate About America Right Now,” TIME enlisted Moore to expand on his work and photography six different locations across the country: the Atchafalaya Swamp in Louisiana, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Ted Turner’s bison ranch in Montana, Casino Pier amusement park at the Jersey Shore and the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. “I love photographing in America because, for me, it’s like playing on the home field,” says Moore. “It’s familiar but it’s also always new. It’s my culture and at the same time, I’m always seeing new facets to it.” Moore watched below, from the cockpit of the low-flying plane, endless vistas, sand-worn farmhouses and herds of galloping antelope and wrestled with how to portray this subject. “One of the great challenges is to tell a story about a place people think of as a blank space and let the land tell the story rather than well known cliches,” says Moore. Despite meticulous compositions and enchanting natural light, Moore’s color work often honors the legacy of something that has passed, and some of these photographs show signs of wear and tear but, he says, they are not intended to be viewed as ugly or reductive. He sees beauty in the complexity of life. “Like an old person’s face,” says Moore, possibly referring to Uncle Teed’s. “It’s just a measure of time.” **_Andrew Moore_** _is represented by_ [_Yancey Richardson Gallery_](http://www.yanceyrichardson.com/ "undefined") _in NYC and Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta and will exhibit his “Dirt Meridian” work at the_ [_Joslyn Art Museum_](https://www.joslyn.org/collections-and-exhibitions/temporary-exhibitions/upcoming/ "undefined") _in Omaha, opening October 9th, 2016._ **_Natalie Matutschovsky_** _and_ **_Myles Little_**_, who edited this photo essay, are Senior Photo Editors at TIME._ [**_Michael Bucher_**](http://www.bucherphotography.com/ "undefined") _is a contributor at TIME LightBox._  William Shakespeare’s play “Love’s Labor’s Lost” is performed at Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise, ID on Sunday, June 12, 2016. Andrew Moore for TIME  Bison are photographed on Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch outside Bozeman, MT on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Andrew Moore for TIME  The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States, photographed on June 9, 2016. Andrew Moore for TIME  Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO photographed June 19, 2016 during a Bob Dylan and Mavis Staples Concert. It is celbrating it’s 75th Anniversary this year. Andrew Moore for TIME  Sun Through Rain. Dawes County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Pronghorn Antelope. Niobrara County, Wyoming, 2013. Andrew Moore  Eva Jerde. Harding County, South Dakota, 2014. Andrew Moore  Homesteaders' Tree. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2011. Andrew Moore  Gas Flare. Mckenzie County, North Dakota, 2014. Andrew Moore  Round Up No. 2\. McKenzie County, North Dakota, 2005. Andrew Moore  Fawn and Snowball. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2006. Andrew Moore  Roughneck Housing. McKenzie County, North Dakota, 2013. Andrew Moore  Broken Pivot. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Dalton Market. Cheyenne County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Uncle Teed. Sioux County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Along The Bad River. Haakon County, South Dakota, 2014. Andrew Moore  Bassett Livestock Auction. Rock County, Nebraska, 2006. Andrew Moore  Abbott Family At The Big House. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2012. Andrew Moore  Along The Little Missouri. McKenzie County, North Dakota, 2013. Andrew Moore  Burnt Peak on the Pine Ridge. Dawes County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Vernon Ashley. Hughes County, South Dakota, 2014. Andrew Moore  Sandhills Blizzard. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Buckboard Wagon. Sheridan County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  School District 123\. Cherry County, Nebraska, 2012. Andrew Moore  Jordan Budd. Sheridan County, Nebraska, 2013. Andrew Moore  Cash Meier Barn. Shadbolt Ranch, Cherry County, Nebraska, 2012. Andrew Moore  Art Gallery At The Dorsey Mansion. Union County, New Mexico, 2014. Andrew Moore  Music Studio. Gray County, Texas, 2014. Andrew Moore  The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in 2003\. The museum’s building, designed by David Adjaye, is currently under construction on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. The museum says it will open its doors September 24, 2016\. Photographed Thursday June 9, 2016. Andrew Moore for TIME  The casino pier amusement park is photographed from the air on Saturday, June 18, 2016 in Seaside Heights, NJ. Casino Pier is an amusement park situated on a pier, it was partially destroyed by Hurricane Sandy but has since reopened. Andrew Moore for TIME  Winter Thicket. Greenwood, Mississippi, 2012 Andrew Moore  Dubbs Office. Tunica, Mississippi, 2014 Andrew Moore  Church Drum Kit. Clarksdale, Mississippi, 2012 Andrew Moore  Old Highway 61\. Tunica, Mississippi, 2014 Andrew Moore  Mrs. Clara Hornsby. 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