Home on the Range

I just recently returned from a trip out to Wyoming where I got to photograph the engagements of one of my oldest friends on this earth.  We drove up through beautiful country where the deer and the antelope and even the elk and turkeys play to the Huseby Ranch, and settled in for the weekend.  Sean and Amber wanted to recreate the imagery of the sculpture, When Two Trails Become One Road.  So, we saddled up the horses and headed up the hills.  We worked around the weather for a couple of days, but the skies were not cloudy all day, so we came away with some great shots.  I come from that country, and I can say that these images stir up within me what Wyoming is all about. 
We met Amber's mom and dad, then her grandpa and grandma. Seldom was heard a discouraging word, except for the time Amber's dad made some comment to her mom about laziness, to which he got a wooden thimble tossed square at his head.   There weren't any more words after that. :)
Every day, 3 times a day, we had good, homestyle cooking.  I gained 5 pounds just over the weekend.  Yep.  That good.
In fact, I'll never look at brownies the same way again.  The stuff out of the box, from now on is always going to be a major disappointment in comparison to what I will forever now call... the REAL brownies....

Back to my story... sorry I drifted back there for a bit.  I could almost smell the chocolate again....sigh.


Sean Darrell Kaplan.   My good friend, and I think I'm finally starting to see a side of him that might hint he's settling down.  That or he's just getting old and slow.  It's hard to tell, because he's losing his hair and what's left is turning grey.  He might be getting a little soft in the middle too.  Seriously though,  he's got a different look in his eyes that I've noticed on this trip. It was good to see him rounding up cows, working on the ranch.  He and his horse Leo moved together as if they were one on this trip.  Both man and horse were definitely in their element, at home on the range.

And Amber. Wow. When I think of a cowgirl, Amber's one I'll think of.  She's got the tough, she's got the resolve, and she's got the gumption.  She tells it like it is, cause there just ain't any other way to tell it.
I watched her throw cows when we branded.  I watched her gallop through the back country on bareback.  I watched an awnry horse buck her off at full speed, and I watched her get right back up, grab her hat and jump right back on, without missing a beat.   She moved a little slower the next day, had a little more John Wayne in her swagger as she walked around, but Pilgrim, she never quit.  And she looks mighty pretty when she's angry, wahuh!  When Sean was wrestling around with her, she took him down, backwards, to the ground, and made him bleed!   Right on!  All true facts, there are eyewitnesses to back it up. 


We had a great time together, catching up and getting to know the family.  And, in a few more months, on top of those beautiful Bighorn Mountains, these two are tying the knot.  Thanks for the memories folks.