Western photography in this collection conveys a softer, grittier sense of nostalgia. That’s inevitable — we grew up with a black-and-white Singing Cowboy and the good guys always, always, wore white hats. We’ll never see today’s West objectively, it’s so overlaid with misty memories of an OId West that’s part of global folklore and the American psyche.
At one time, we lived poised between Old West and new. Some of the old cowhands were still around, and their faces — the parts below the hat line — were as weathered and worn as these images might imply.
The Western photography art here is meant to reflect both reality and romance, the sand along with the scenery. In some of these prints, special treatments and custom manipulations were applied — never to fake a scene, more in order to capture a larger portion of the lived, felt experience… out West. The West we’ve known.
See: Shadow-work: In the Path of the Eclipse
I love this piece on my office wall. Makes me happy every time I see it.