Senior Editor Jennifer Denison and I were in Westfall, Oregon, to photograph bit and spur maker Ernie Marsh. I can’t think of many lonelier, more remote towns that I’ve visited. At the time, Marsh worked in an 1890s school house in town that served as his shop. Fortunately, his wife, Teresa, already had a nice studio light set up, and she offered to let us use it. I decided to photograph this spur on a boot and noticed Marsh’s assistant was wearing a pair of black, worn cowboy boots. We cleaned and conditioned the right boot, and I think it added a lot to the spur, with the black and purple colors giving this photo a royal, working cowboy feel. If I had accidentally driven through that desolate town on my own, I never would have guessed that such incredible craftsmanship was being produced in one of the antiquated, white wooden buildings along the road.
