Cowboy Photography - Prints - American West Wall Art

Western Photos - Cowboy Culture

Had a conversation with a buddy the other day about hunting/fishing which came after a very unproductive outing that certainly wasn’t from a lack of effort. When you put time into either of those sports it can be frustrating to get skunked. Frustrating isn’t a strong enough word actually. My most recent trip was a few weeks ago on the lower Owens River outside of Bishop, CA. Felt like I was doing everything right but results said the opposite. The fish were rising and eating bugs off the top. Every bug that is, besides mine. Kept changing flies, moving locations, water depth, yada yada yada. Not so much as a nibble. Later in the day I ran across a lady about 75 years old who had just pulled in a nice brown trout and quickly mentioned that it was her first time ever fly fishing. Ok, I thought, this place is going to be a Hand Out. Hour and a half later, not a damn thing. So I sat on the tailgate drinking a beer at sunset staring at the pastel sky saying out loud “I fuckin hate fly fishing” to absolutely no one. Which obviously isn’t true, but my ego was damaged and I was tired. And when you’ve been fishing for any amount of time, you realize that’s just how it goes sometimes. Back to that conversation. We talked about how boring it would be if you went out every day and netted 20 monster trout. Or were guaranteed to hit your limit of ducks, deer, elk, whatever it is you’re after. No, that would suck. That is not a sport. Where is the fun in that? There is none.

It’s probably a stretch to make a comparison, but that’s the way I feel about morning light. Later afternoon light for that matter too. It’s so good that you want to hit the pause button on the sun to make it stay in that position, barely peaking over the horizon. Crisp. Golden. Tasty. Then you realize a lot of the appeal is due to it’s fleeting nature. Morning/evening shots wouldn’t be as desirable if you could make them all day. It’s fun to dream though. Out on a ranch, mornings are special. Really special. You’re lucky to get a couple good frames in before that light is gone. And that is one of the many factors that what will keep me going back again and again and again.

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Cowboy Photography - American West - Cattle Ranching

Maybe it’s the nostalgia? Maybe it’s the hats? I don’t know. However you spin it though, I appreciate everything going on in the pictures here. To really boil it down though, there are a couple factors that turn me on to this culture and lifestyle. First is the freedom. Cowboys/ranchers/farmers. Whatever you want to call them. They work their asses off, but they do so on their own terms, not someone else’s. They freelance, like me. I always say that if I’m not exhausted, dirty, or bloody by the end of a shoot, then chances are it wasn’t that much fun. And I wouldn’t dare to compare the work I do in a day to that of a cowboy, but I certainly connect with it. Another part is their “work” hasn’t changed that much since the old days. Sure there are more laws and guidelines, especially in California, but the bones of it is pretty much the same. And there’s a lot to be said for that, especially since everything else in the world changes minute by minute, and not usually for the better. The simplicity of their trade is another parallel to draw. That’s not to say that what they do is easy, because it certainly isn’t. Quite the opposite. With photography everyone is so focused on gear, gear, gear. Gotta get the latest and greatest piece of gear. Gotta light this with 12 strobes or it won’t look good! Admittedly, I was guilty of that in the past too. At a certain point though, I realized that was all about false impressions. Yes, your equipment needs to be at a certain level to operate as a professional, but that doesn’t mean you constantly need to be upgrading. Having a better camera doesn’t make you a better photographer. Hell, if you know what you’re doing, you could make an entire career with one camera and one lens. So you don't need that new 150 megapixel Medium Format bullshit. Fun to play around with? Yup. Not what matters though. Focus on making images not on the gear. That’s what I mean by simplicity. Location is the last thing I’ll mention. In general, the places where these people live and work is also something I connect with. Living in San Diego has a lot of pluses, but I’d much rather be out in the mountains or the country. It feels more like home and fits my personality/interests much more. Along with the location comes a certain type of attitude or lack there of. City people and country people are just different. No way around it. I prefer the later.

What a day this was with Spencer and Jessica of the Anderson Cattle Company (click to buy some of their beef) and their crew. Really grateful to have documented the work done by these folks. Not only was it fun, but also incredibly impressive. Watching the control they had over their horses and the way they used them as vehicles was a pleasure. That goes for the women too. They can rip. At the end of the day I asked one of the guys how long it took until he was comfortable with that sort of environment. To which he replied that you don’t, really. “Controlled chaos”. You just get use to the controlled chaos, he said. A very fair and accurate way to describe that type of event.

Something well worth noting in my opinion is that none of the people you see in these pictures were paid to be there. They are all friends of the Anderson’s and volunteered to work their asses off in the hot sun. A favor that is always returned over and over again throughout their lifetimes. On this day they helped on their ranch, but next time the Anderson’s will be the one’s lending a hand. The way life should be.

One of my favorite photographers of all time is William Albert Allard. He made a great deal of photographs in the American West documenting the lifestyle and I’d argue that nobody has ever done it better. In one of his books he talked about time spent on a ranch with some cowboys in Nevada. He asked one of the guys if he was ever afraid of being replaced by a machine. “Bill, they just ain’t come up with nothin’ yet that’ll take as much abuse as a cowboy”.

Follow along with the Anderson’s on IG @2aranchwife

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