Artist Journal Entry:
"Sonoran Glow" is a photograph that I captured while documenting cowboys in the Gila County of Arizona, near the town of Globe. Shortly after sunrise, we saddled up the horses and began our trek through the vast desert before climbing up along this hillside for the composition. It was my intention to capture something that not only reflects a classic western scene but also honors the men and women who live it on a daily basis. A life full of pushing cattle through rough landscapes filled with cacti and mesquite. Brush that shreds clothing and leaves its mark in a good pair of chaps. Cholla cactus gets caught up in the horse's hair before its spines eventually find their way into your skin. There ain't nothing easy about working in this type of country and these Arizona cowboys are some of the toughest people I've been fortunate enough to capture. During the setup of this photo, I hiked uphill with a ladder thrown over my shoulder, slipping on loose rock all the way up to this lookout while sweat ran down my face in the morning sun. Since we were on an incline, I had to stack rocks in order to balance the ladder which gave me the proper height I needed to be above the Saguaro cactus and the two cowboys on horseback. As the valley began to light up, I had them look off to the distant Superstition Mountains as I captured this photo. To me, it showcases an image where two cowboys are scanning the hillsides for cattle to round up on a typical day in the Arizona desert. It reminds me of all the western movies I used to watch as a kid. Something taken straight out of the 90s and allowing the viewer to reflect on a previous time.