Cowboy Photographer

I have an ugly confession to make. I read Westerns. It started years ago with a little innocent Louis L'Amour, but after I finished reading all those I got my hands on, I progressed to Elmer Kelton (my current favorite), Elmore Leonard, and the wonderfully purple and overwrought prose of Max Brand. So when I heard about the Cowboy Photographer Erwin Smith Collection ( http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/ ), I naturally wondered if he was a cowboy who was a photographer or a photographer who took pictures of cowboys. Turns out he was both, and there are over 700 pictures in this collection to prove it.

The pictures are divided by categories, including clothing, seasonal work, and rodeos. (For those of you looking for the horse pictures, they're under "Cowboy Equipment", subcategory Animals.) Pictures are listed twelve to a page; click on the small pictures for larger versions and a little bit of annotation, but not much. A very unique set of pictures here.

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