The Mythical American Cowboy Photographed by Ken Dundas

Earlier this month, acclaimed Scottish-born commercial and fine art photographer Ken Dundas took to the road to photograph some real-life cowboys at the Omak Rodeo in Omak, Washington. As a Scotsman, Ken's only experience with cowboys came from movies, television and books. As a personal project he wanted to see these American icons up close and capture authentic images of them in pre- and post-rodeo performance. We sat down with Ken to discuss his vision and to find out more about the shoot.

What drew you to the cowboys as a subject matter?

Coming from Scotland, the mythic American cowboy as an icon is completely foreign to me, I found the idea compelling. I wanted see them for myself. My vision was to photograph their portraits on the fly, just as they were about to ride in the rodeo or right after their event. I wanted something that wasn’t polished, no hair and makeup and no styling.

How long did you have with each cowboy?

The actual time taking their picture was between five and 30 seconds, averaging between ten and 20 seconds. I shot between six and 20 frames per portrait.

What was as unique about this shoot?

The shoot itself was one of the hardest I’ve done. It was difficult to light. My initial idea was to have all the images with the exact same background. Unfortunately, this was not possible as the only space I could shoot was directly in the setting sun. I didn't have an assistant and I had a limited amount of equipment. In the end, I had three different lighting setups over the three day period.

I could only find one space that was only partially suitable. I ended up between a pickup truck, a toilet and the bull and horse pen. Add to that unbearable heat (it was 105 the first night), constant dust, flies and an incredibly foul smell of animal dung.

As far as producing the shoot it was all me. The rodeo organizers weren't able to contact the riders in advance, so it was up to me to get them to stand for a portrait. My plan was to stand at the side gate, where the riders would enter or leave the stadium and ask them one by one if they would stand in for a portrait. In the end, the plan worked to my advantage as the cowboys didn’t have time to think through the request, instead they just stood there and had their picture taken just as they were.

Were the cowboys easy to photograph?

The cowboys themselves were easy to photograph, each of them had their own natural stance; no pictures were posed. The only thing they were asked to do was to stand straight in front of me. They were all friendly and polite, even the ones that didn’t want to have their pictures taken.

To see more of Ken's portfolio, click here.