Cowgirl Sh!t

One of my last projects for a class I am in at school was a ‘self-directed’ styled location shoot. I did the project, turned in my final image, but the rest of the images I am so in love with so i made them into a gallery on my website.

Im really not sure if its obvious, but I left a wild western lifestyle when I moved away from Montana. I was that boot scootin’, Coors Banquet drinkin’, cowboy hat/boot/buckle wearing girl that thrived on all the excitement of rodeos, dancing at the Blue Moon, and seizing every opportunity to get in the saddle or even just spend time around livestock.

I had to make some adjustments to my life when I moved back to Washington state, and my confidence in my true identity wavered so much that it plummeted and I began to keep all the boots and hats in the closet, instead of on the next to the front door for quick access. I switched my beloved Tony Lamas for a pair of Converse, and traded my cowboy hats for messy buns. I don’t particularly love being the center of attention, and the hats made EVERYONE look at me, which made me so uncomfortable. The kind of people I was with all the time in Montana were few and far between in my new town.

For this project though, I wanted to reach down into my core and pull out the silver-gilded, tooled leather and fringe parts of my heart that I had buried so deeply.

I reached out via Facebook to find a model for this project, and the best possible outcome came to light. I found an amazing lady – Summerlyn – who was incredibly generous with her horses. She offered to take my shoot assistant, Taylor, and I on horseback to a location she knew we would love that was truly perfect. We saddled up and plodded on down and I got to capture her basically showcasing the life I dream of having. These are the result of the shoot!