The idea of America, and the American identity, has been central to this country's cultural conversation and debate since its inception. America -- past, present, and future -- is an ongoing experiment in free will and liberty for all who reach its welcoming shores, plow its fertile soil, and raise their children to achieve that great promise of the American Dream. In The American Experiment, photographer Brandon Ralph presents an exploration of the patriotic symbols, the vast and varied landscape, and the tapestry of humanity that poses the question anew: What makes an American? The result is a finely wrought collection of moments and Americans captured in time, separated by decades and by state lines, by events of national significance and by the invisible routines of day-to-day life. In Ralph's starkly beautiful and unwaveringly sensitive images, there is a sense of timelessness that speaks to our collective nostalgia, our unflagging optimism, and our unending pursuit of freedom for all people.

Best known as the photographer for the 1990s "Marlboro Man" (as appropriated by Richard Prince), Hannes Schmid (born 1946) has been active for decades in various genres of photography--principally fashion, rock and documentary. Early on in his career, Schmid blurred the boundaries between commissioned projects and personal work, and by the 1970s, was focused simultaneously on documenting cannibal folk culture in Indonesia and making classic portraits of bands such as Kraftwerk, Queen, Blondie, Depeche Mode and AC/DC. The latter body of work, done between 1978 and 1984, effectively tells the story of rock music between these years; Schmid spent the best part of a decade on tour with over 250 bands. Soon after, he entered the worlds of fashion and advertising photography, producing his famous icon--the Marlboro cowboy--in 1993, a figure that reached mass audiences and later percolated up to the contemporary art scene thanks to its adoption by Richard Prince, in the artist's later series of Marlboro appropriations. In addition to his photographic projects, Schmid's work also comprises films and installation projects. "Real Stories" is published to coincide with a retrospective at Kunstmuseum Bern, and includes a large selection of Schmid's photographic works--400 of which are reproduced in color--along with essays that contextualize his work and address his position as an artist working inside photography.