Cattle Drive

Cattle Drive
West Texas, Texas, USA – 2024

This photograph smells of West Texas and that was the intent. I think there normally needs to be a sense of place and a mood for the story within a still to stack up. It’s so dusty in this ranch just 25 miles from the Mexican border and the dust adds a character for free, provided the photographer is prepared to shoot towards the sun in the last hour of sunlight.

This photograph smells of West Texas and that was the intent. I think there normally needs to be a sense of place and a mood for the story within a still to stack up. It’s so dusty in this ranch just 25 miles from the Mexican border and the dust adds a character for free, provided the photographer is prepared to shoot towards the sun in the last hour of sunlight.

But there are logistical issues: firstly, the herd are coming right at my ladder and secondly, the wind direction needs to be right. If the wind is moving in roughly the same direction as the cattle and there is speed to that wind, then not only am I not going to get a picture, I would also be in danger as the cattle would not see me until it was too late.

So there is some amount of maths involved and I think that this is as close as I can responsibly get, even if the wind is blowing left to right. This is not something to try without the help of good horsemen and the cowboys in Texas are the best equipped in the world to be a photographer’s accomplice.

It is a special place down here and we recognise it. I often refer to some of John Steinbeck’s quotes and I will unapologetically do so once again, as he nails it every time:

“For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans.”
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