Personal Projects

There are some photo projects that are beautiful, some that are revealing, and some that are enlightening. But here’s one that is just plain awesome.

Paul Cary Goldberg has long had a passion for two things: photography and food. A self-taught photographer, Goldberg’s love of food led to an interest in farms and farming as a way of life. Combine all this and you have Goldberg’s latest photo project, which involves documenting the life of the American farmer.

In the late 1980s I took on the challenge of shooting the equestrian culture of the American West. I was passionately interested in photographing the men and women who still follow the traditions of Western horsemanship. They all share an almost mystical love of their equine counterparts and the art of riding. Over a 14-year period I seasonally photographed the Western riders and titled the work the Equestrian West.

It all started with a conversation at a family holiday with my aunt and uncle about doing a summer hiking trip in Yosemite to stay at the High Sierra Camps. These camps are supported by daily mule trains that haul in supplies, including delicious meals and luggage, thus allowing visitors to carry a light daypack while getting to enjoy the experience of a backcountry trip.

The camera Michael carries might be his Leica M6, loaded with either Ilford XP-2 or Kodak BW400CN chromogenic film and fitted with either a 35mm f/2 or 50mm f/2 Summicron lens; or his Fuji X10 point-and-shoot with its zoom lens set for the equivalent of 50mm; or his Nikon D200 or D700 with the manual 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens he got with his F3 back when he was in college.

It is probably true that a photographer, through almost single-minded devotion to a place, can help make it known, understood, and appreciated. But the converse is also true. A place can make a photographer. Its beauty, its landscape, its human dimensions, its impact on the creative spirit can mold or shape a photographer—both as artist and person. That’s been the experience of fine art photographer William Davis in his 45-year symbiotic relationship with Northern New Mexico and the small town of Taos.