Sunday, April 20, 2008

cowboy up

Photograph: Robb Kendrick

One fairly reliable way to tell if you are in a part of the country where people still herd cattle for a living is the frequent and unselfconscious use of the word cowboy as a verb.

From Randy Kennedy's piece on Robb Kendrick's tintype photography in today's New York Times.

Kendrick's work also ran in National Geographic not too long ago in a wonderful piece that detailed the cowboy's garb & gear -- how it varies geographically and evolved to accommodate environmental conditions (Fierce sun? Broad rim. Lots of rain? Taco rim, to act like rain gutters. Even chaps with fringe have a purpose -- the fringe is pulled off as needed to use as ties.) accompanied by a map that delineates the geographical ranges of what a cowboy is called -- like vaquero and cowpoke -- depending upon where he plies his trade.

4 comments:

mrtn said...

Nice!
Btw: In case you haven't seen it: check out Shorpys.com.

Anonymous said...

@mrtn: overheard; checked; and now inhabited by that sweetest feeling: nostalgia for things I have not even lived; thanks for the link!

mrtn said...

It does that to you! :)

bobcat rock said...

gorgeous.

"...the past is so beautiful, the future like a captive snow...".

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