Hook Em’ Horns
Austin, Texas - 2024
The University of Texas (UT) is integral to the lore and image of Texas and is beloved by its alumni. If Texas was a country, it would now rank 8th in world GDP and if UT was just an athletics institution, it would also rank high in the global performance charts. This is not a normal educational establishment.
The flagship of the athletics department is, of course, the Texas Longhorns, whose fan base stretches way beyond the alumni. To be in Austin for a Saturday game day is a bucket list sporting occasion, attracting crowds of over 80,000 people, even if the result is a foregone conclusion long before the tailgating parties start.
My plan was to take a tableau photograph celebrating this venerable institution, but there was much to plan to ensure my effort as an outsider would not end up being generic or hackneyed. I needed to push a few boundaries in my creative processing.
Since 1916 a longhorn steer named Bevo has represented The University of Texas as its famed mascot. There have, of course, been a few Bevos over the years, with their orange and white colouring emblematic of the institution. There is no more revered live mascot in global sport and I recognised that without Bevo, any picture celebrating the Longhorns would be very lame.
I want to thank Ben Barnes - the former Lieutenant Governor of Texas - for helping facilitate this shoot. My idea was to photograph Bevo in front of the UT tower which is the storied epicentre of the campus and Ben, who bizarrely knew my late father in the UK, made the necessary calls.
The grass lawn between 21st street and the Tower suited the steer, but my leaning was always to add both dynamism and symbolism by using the same smoke effects that accompany Bevo when he triumphantly enters the Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium on game day. Smoke adds drama and focuses the eye. No wonder it is so often used in the creative entertainment industry.
I want to thank Ricky Brown Ricky Breenes, and Craig Westemeier of The University of Texas Athletics, William Reid and, of course, Governor Barnes. It was a privilege and an honour to be allowed this level of access.
This was agreed in partnership with UT, who will benefit from any sales of the commemorative photograph.
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