People Of The West: Western Spirit

I could just call it "cowboys," and that would be fine, except that there seem to be quite a few false cowboys roaming the west today.  Most of this collection was created while I was the primary photographer for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV for 5 years.  Others were made at Moab's Western Stars Gathering (now defunct).  Between photographing the stars on stage I would invite folks just wandering through the convention center to step onto my grey background paper and allow me to photograph them.  I met some great folks.  Heard some fine stories.  Learned a few things about dealing with people.  And I came away enriched.  Meet me at a campfire and I'll tell you stories.

You do know that cowboys includes the ladies, too, don't you?  My friend Heidi Redd told me that.  "We're all cowboys", she says, "Any gal that says she's a cowgirl, probably doens't know which side of a horse to mount."