Leland Payton

Leland Payton's ancestors, not surprisingly, were among the earliest settlers in the Appalachian Mountains and the Ozark highlands. Photographing the region of his birth evolved out of his practice of taking a sketch pad on fishing trips as a boy. Virtually unschooled (and, some say, unschoolable), toon meer he, fortunately, married an educated and literate writer, Crystal Payton. They have two sons, Strader and Ross, both in college. toon minder