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.
