Erickson Cattle Company, Cowboys doing real Work

The roots of the Erickson Cattle Company began before 1892, the year a cabin was built on the out skirts of what is now Yosemite National Park. A lot has changed since that period but one thing hasn't, the Erickson family is still in the cattle business. Dan Erickson, the great grandson of the founder, tends the herd in the Sierra high country, rides rodeo, and lives an authentic cowboy lifestyle, albeit modernized. He drives the cattle to lower elevations in the fall, avoiding the heavy snows and does it the old fashion way on horseback. It is not nostalgia that drives this decision but economics. The open land is available, and trucking is expensive, so the cowboy trail drive is alive and well. They have a facebook account at this location: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Erickson-Cattle-Company/197768206917176.

This is a photography blog, so I  was privileged to photograph some of their activity last weekend and interview Dan and Andra Erickson for Hold the Eye Images Podcasting. Co-hosting this podcast is Julie Kitzenberger, who works with Hold the Eye Images Inc., and is a well known photographer in the Bay Area. Examples of Julie's work can be found here:http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=979198. But before I share any photos, here is the interview on Hold the Eye Images Podcasting, which can be listened to on this blog page, or by clicking on the right side of the blog. It can be found also on iTunes under Hold the Eye Images.

Want to Capture Real Cowboy Images_ Listen to this!

So, you have listened to the discussion, here are the Erickson's and yes they are this handsome and beautiful both in the way they look and most importantly the way they act, right out of a magazine.

But let's look at the images they create for us photographers, pretty special when you think about it.

Here is Dan at the beginning of the day, quite a sight with the sun, always shot at F/22 and the mist from the body heat in the cool Sierra air.

And of course, the cattle drive, sepia gives it that olden day touch.

And there are more images for the taking!

So you have the option of different looks which are important for the variety of your portfolio.

And you can't forget what the sun gives you when a little dust gets up in the air. One sleeping and one watching, or one looking at his iPhone? You guess.

Also the close-ups that were discussed in the podcast, here are some examples. And yes the guns are real, and Tim who is pictured here fired off a couple of shots to wake up the cows in the beginning of the round-up.

  And, no one ever gets in a bad mood with Dan standing watch!

And we have horses to photograph, many options including these running right at me.

So at the end of the shoot, my camera count was 3,000 images, and I have not looked at most of  them by any means. I have some cool photographs of the roping, more still photography, more great images of cowboys riding and many more yet to be examined. The platforms for shooting are provided and work well. As Julie said, both wide angle and telephoto lenses are needed, and at the end of the day, you might get something like this.

After getting up early in the morning for a nap, even the horses need a nap. Happy Trails!

Special thanks to Rebecca, Al, Renis, and Charlie for helping and especially to Rebecca for putting together such a great workshop. And if you go and get a chance to talk with Al, his stories covering this area as a photojournalist are very interesting. See you soon folks.

Comments

[John Perry]

Hi Bill, I think that your podcast of this event was great. Makes me want to go back and take the workshop again. I only shot about 700 photos so that pales compared to your 3000.
See you soon,
John

[william henderson]

There was a lot to shoot, the flowers in the morning with the dew and low lying fog, looked like ice. The stills, and closeups of the gear will make great black and white. Their gear was worn so it has texture which gives it a wide tonal range, also wonderful in black and white. I could have shot more.