Archie West

During the last few blogs, I have shared photographs of some of the incredible people I was lucky enough to photograph for my book, A Place Like No Other:  people of an enchanted land.  The book actually began as a semester project for a photography class I was taking and during that time, it gained a life of its own.  I began by photographing the husband of a friend of mine.  And with every opportunity I had, I asked friends and journalists who they thought I should photograph.  Before much time elapsed, I had a list with hundreds of names on it.

Although he came as a recommendation and was not someone I had known before, one of the more memorable photo shoots of the bunch was with Archie West - cowboy, rancher, actor, Renaissance man.    Because he had been in some movies (Cheyenne Social Club for one, and Jack Schaeffer's character Monte Walsh is based on Archie), he was completely comfortable with the camera.  Because he was on and off horses all the time, he knew how to move.  He was patient with my photographic style which can be fairly methodical and at the same time active.  He was the perfect model.

My first visit was an introduction.  The second visit, musicians Jeanie McLerie and Ken Keppeler who call themselves Bayou Seco, were at the ranch making their music.  I got to photograph them as well, with Archie providing additional accompaniment.  He offered lunch of local tamales which we washed down with tequila!

Can you see how difficult it was for me to choose among the sixty or more shots I had of Archie?   Each one said something different.  Below is the image that I finally selected for the book.  Part of the reason was his hands on the saddle.  The other images showed his incredible face but the shot below demonstrated a huge part of him.  Those hands of his are strong and full of life.  They had to be part of the book.

According to a 2009 article in Western Horseman magazine, Archie West is still running cattle on his ranch south of Santa Fe.  He is 74 years old.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image