Explore the grit and simplicity of cowboy life in this coffee-table book featuring a dynamic collection of duotone photos by Anouk Krantz.
“I grew to long for my next trip back to the West, each time discovering new, spectacular landscapes, and people. To experience this largely unknown, neglected, and misunderstood part of the world. I wanted to see how these American cowboys live, how they work what they love about their lives that keeps them there, and what they aspire to achieve.” —Excerpt from West: The American Cowboy
The Western lifestyle is filled with photographic moments not everyone gets to experience, whether its breathtaking landscapes, action-packed bronc rides, newborn foals and calves playing in the pasture, or families working together to get a job done. Award-winning photographer Anouk Krantz documents the emotion and simplicity of this lifestyle in duotone photos featured in her new photography book West: The American Cowboy.
Growing up in France, Krantz developed a fascination for the American cowboy at a young age. She saw romantic, adventurous lifestyle portrayed in books, photographs and films and knew she would one day experience it in person. She later moved to New York and started traveling to the West to meet cowboys and ranchers and learn about their culture. She gained respect for their worth ethic, integrity, traditions, sense of place, and dedication to faith and family, and they invited her into their homes and lives to experience and photograph the realities of ranch life, as well as a little bit of cowboy recreation such as concerts and rodeos.
The book features more than 120 duotone photos she took over five years. A captivating mix of landscape, lifestyle, portraits and action shots, the graphically stark images and design capture the grit and simplicity of the ranching lifestyle and stir the soul of anyone who lives in the West or longs to be there. As readers turn the pages, they are taken on a visual trip to remote ranches and small-town rodeos where the sense of family, community and camaraderie are strong. There are few words, other than an occasional quote or caption, but the images tell their own stories for readers to open their imaginations to interpret.
A beautiful tribute to cowboys and ranchers, the book shows their contrast to today’s fast-paced society, and their deep connection to the land, livestock and traditions they diligently protect for future generations.
