If you are looking for inspiration, rejuvenation and a powerful learning experience, come join us in Williamsburg, Ky. for a week that could define who you want to become as a visual storyteller.
Undecided? Take a look below at the work created in the 2023 edition of the Mountain.
Horses. History. Hospitality.
Paris and Bourbon County 2023
Photos by Russ Bray, Frank Bowen IV, Vanta E. Coda III, Allison Bailey, Julia Nikhinson, Yannick Peterhans, Jay Stinnett, Ryan Wiramidjaja
And the richness of the people
Nestled in the heart of the Bluegrass region, with a verdant, gently rolling landscape, Bourbon County is home to elegant Thoroughbred farms and multimillion-dollar racehorses. But, as County Judge-Executive Michael Williams says, it’s the richness of the people who make this Kentucky community unique. From a revitalized Main Street in Paris, brimming with local stores, to the tiny hamlets of Millersburg, North Middletown, Clintonville and Centerville, there is a palpable sense of pride among the people who inhabit Bourbon County’s 292 square miles.
Video by Adam Wolffbrandt, Sam Mallon and the Mountain Workshops participants
October 24 - October 28, 2023
More than 60 student and professional photographers and videographers from around the nation, along with a staff of nearly 60 teachers, editors and assistants, spent the last week of October 2023 capturing the stories of this distinctive American community.
portfolio
Photo by Águeda Sanfiz
Betty Rupard, 93, sits in front of her home across the street from North Middletown Christian Church. Betty attended worship at the church for the first time when she was 13 years old. After living many places throughout her life, she enjoys the laid-back lifestyle of her hometown and takes pride of the fact that she can still mow her lawn. She attends church regularly with her siblings, Ruth Grimes, 90, and Bill Lyle, 96.
Photo by Blake Dahlin
Behind the offices at Claiborne Farm, there is a small cemetery with the names of champions inscribed on the headstones. Visitors come from all over the country to pay their respects to Secretariat, one of the greatest racehorses who ever lived. His retirement at Claiborne in 1973 helped make the farm famous.
Photo by Cara Taylor
Dr. Christine Akers performs a wellness exam on a large male cat at her practice, Paris Veterinary Clinic. After being rescued from a hoarding situation, the cat was adopted by veterinary technician Maddie Blake.
Photo by Megan Varner
A horse walks across a pasture at sunrise at Payson Stud Farm. Bourbon and several adjacent counties are a global center for breeding Thoroughbred racehorses.
Photo by Riley Robinson
Jay Rankin, 39, harvests soybeans in Paris just before dusk. Jay leases and farms thousands of acres in Bourbon County, including on Claiborne Farm. He planted about 1,800 acres of soybeans this year.
Photo by Rubini Naidu
As the sun sets at Hunterton Farm, Zhanna Lykhachava (left) and Yana Dyukareva walk out to bring horses into the stable for the night. The farm is home to some of the nation's top Standardbred horses.
Photo by Vanta E. Coda III
Elijah Burrell, 8, rakes leaves as the distant laughter of his younger sisters reverberates around their front yard in Paris.
Photo by Águeda Sanfiz
Bluegrass Contracting worker Julius Yeast, 44, unloads traffic cones at a storage facility in North Middletown. The town of about 640 people is in southeast Bourbon County.
Photo by Águeda Sanfiz
First-grader Mariah Lucas reacts to a classmate's hand trick during class at North Middletown Elementary School. She is wearing a wig for a special glow-in-the-dark event taking place at the school.
Photo by Arthur H. Trickett-Wile
Michaela Benson, 17, poses for a portrait with her goose, Chicken Little. She says he is a source of comfort when she feels sad or upset. Michaela and her friend, Caitlyn Barrett, left Paris High School at lunch one day last May and went to Tractor Supply Co. where they bought four young geese. Her other goose, Pop Tart, died.
Photo by Águeda Sanfiz
Second graders from the North Middletown Elementary School enjoy some recess time during their field trip to the Middle Springs Farm.
Photo by Aryana Noroozi
Kim Ray poses for a portrait inside The Fancy Flamingo Boutique, a shop on Main Street that she opened in June 2020. Kim believes in investing in Paris through small businesses, and she encourages her community to buy local. She had no prior retail experience but now spends her days searching for inventory, communicating with wholesalers and constantly improving the store space.
Photo by Aryana Noroozi
Dee and Jerry Alleyne pose for a portrait with their dogs. The couple, who met training border collies to herd sheep, built their hobby farm with horses, eight border collies, sheep, donkeys, goats and more than 18 other cats and dogs. When their neighbors began to ask about its original name, Utopia, and struggled to pronounce it, they changed it to Ewetopia.
Photo by Preston Jenkins
Gaylen Forrest Rankin, also known as Frosty, has an art gallery in downtown Millersburg. During the Christmas season, he works as Santa in Louisville.
Photo by Carolyn Brown
Pelt, a horse born and raised at Shawhan Place, Matt Koch's farm, is shown to potential buyers at Fasig-Tipton as part of the 2023 Kentucky October Yearlings Sale. The horse sold for $2,000.
Photo by Paul Bilodeau
Melanie Turner, the ad director for The Bourbon County Citizen and The Citizen Advertiser, decorates the downtown office for fall with an autumn-themed garland she bought from one of the newspaper's clients.
Photo by Emilee Arnold
Maria Scalia's cat, Little Tim, watches her speak with her newlywed husband, Patrick, from behind one of Patrick's antique clocks. Patrick is an antique collector and clock repairman. Maria says the couple met at a New York City nightclub in 1980 before leading separate lives for 40 years. They married in Paris in September 2023.
Photo by Carolyn Brown
As part of his daily routine, Matt Koch walks a young horse to a pasture on Shawhan Place Farm. Matt is a former Marine captain and third-generation horseman. He also is the state representative for Bourbon, Nicholas and Fleming counties.
Photo by Emilee Arnold
Meredith Mosley, 14, picks up her brother Wyatt Brate, 7, from an after-school program at Paris Elementary School.
Photo by Emilee Arnold
Maria Scalia, 80, dances in the First Presbyterian Church in preparation for an All Saints Day celebration. A native New Yorker, Maria was a dancer into her 30s, performing in ballet and Broadway shows for about a decade. She met her "sweetheart," antique collector and clock repairman Patrick Mangan, while singing at a New York City nightclub in 1980. Maria says “sparks flew” instantly between the two. Separate marriages and 40 years kept the two apart. They found each other again when Patrick sent her a message online. They were married in a double wedding with friends in September 2023 at the ages of 80 and 73.
Photo by Rubini Naidu
As the sun rises, birds fly above Hunterton Farm, which raises Standardbred horses.
Photo by Jay Stinnett
Caine, a mixed-breed dog, sits in a window of a home in Paris.
Photo by Julia Nikhinson
A group of Amish people look on during an auction.
Photo by Paul Bilodeau
Laurel Gibson, an athletic trainer at Paris High School, adds gold paint to highlight the stars she painted on the Blanton Collier Stadium field for the football seniors, who were to play their final game on the grass field before they replace it with artificial turf next season.
Photo by Rubini Naidu
Lotta Kosonan, 29, works at Hunterton Farm, which has some of the nation's top Standardbred horses.
Photo by Ryan Wiramidjaja
Yearling horses at Briarbrooke Farm enjoy running around their enclosure in the late morning.