Texas, USA - 2020
Narrative:
It is integral to my style of animal portraiture to obsess on the lead characteristics of the subject and then look to magnify those characteristics. I always want a
Champions League model, not a Third Division player. When I photograph African elephants, for instance, I work in Kenya which boasts the biggest, most
magnificent elephants in the world. I would never go to Botswana to photograph an elephant - they are smaller than their East African cousins.
With cowboys, I am drawn to the great state of Texas - where the most authentic,
uncompromising, working cowboys in the world live their lives. The flat and arid, big sky
topography of West Texas offers a distinctive canvas that not just locates an image, it also
lends a stage on which to take a dynamic portrait. Texan cowboys are the real deal and the
vastness of west Texas is their workplace.
On set on the Rio Grande, which divides America from Mexico, I met a working cowboy
called Ryan Marshall. Mannered and tough, he boasted not only extraordinary
horsemanship skills, but a bountiful and ageless moustache and beard. I knew that I had to
take his portrait in full partnership with his magnificent horse, Frisco, and we had already
scouted the perfect location and had been granted access to it the following day. The deal
was done.
The photograph wins because of its vitality and power, but also because of Ryan’s
anonymity. I am an eyes person, but on this occasion,
