First published 2008
Robb Kendrick spent twenty-five years documenting the lives of working cowboys across fourteen western states, plus British Columbia and Mexico. He uses tintype photography, a nineteenth-century process that creates unique images matching the timeless nature of his subjects. His camera captures the diverse faces of cowboy culture: women and men, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Anglos who choose this demanding way of life. The photographs show regional differences in equipment and clothing, from Texas cowpunchers wearing rolled-brim "taco" hats to Oregon buckaroos using braided rawhide reatas. Kendrick includes stories from the cowboys themselves alongside his images. Marianne Wiggins provides the introduction while photographer Jay Dusard contributes an afterword. The book demonstrates how little has changed in cowboy work methods, gear, and clothing since the first cowboy photographs appeared over a century ago.
Genres: 20th-century, 21st-century, photography, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: documentary, historical-record
Setting: British Columbia, Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Western United States
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century, 21st-Century
232 pages · Hardcover · University of Texas Press