This is a travelogue of a cattle drive which took place in the South West USA. The author is one of the f32 photographers, Heidi Vetter. You can read here about shooting from the saddle and coping with dust. Heidi is a large format photographer however was using 35mm equipment whilst riding the horse.

All of the photographs in this article are copyright © Heidi Vetter 2000. For permission to use any of the text or photographs on this page, please contact the author directly. You can EMail the photographer at Heidi.Vetter@f32.net

After several summers of chasing our local cattle drive with a Jeep, I jumped at the chance to participate on horseback. What a photographic perspective, what a thrill to live the past, what a vaction I thought. What I got was the opportunity of a lifetime, a connection to our American heritage, a week of really hard work, great photographs, and an experience I would like to share.

Our drive was led by Diane Bohna Crisp. Diane was born with Bohna blood which carries the heritage of driving cattle from the California Central Valley foothills to the Sierra Nevada for the last 100 years. Diane has participated in the family drives since she was seven years old and has run her own herd for the last seventeen years. Tough as barbed wire, yet a beautiful, gentle and sensitive woman, Diane has a deep passion for her cattle, the environment and the mountains that she calls home.

We started our drive on June 20, at 4:00 a.m. in Raymond with 160 pair of cattle. (A pair consists of a mother cow and one calf.) When everthing was said and done we had driven the herd over 40 miles on the original "Sierra stock drive trail," cross-country, straight up hills, down through creeks, around private property and along the Yosemite Highway to Long Meadow Cow Camp at 6,700 feet elevation. In the high country we had rain, hailstorms and even snow. On June 26 after doctoring the last of the sore calves we drove the herd higher up to the vast meadow where they will graze for the summer as they have since the 1800's.

Shooting from horseback is very different than standing on the solid ground. A horse is constantly in movement, turning its head, switching his weight, swinging his tail at flies, and neighing his belly full. Because it is advisable that you never let go of your reins I was grateful for my Nikon auto focus 8008 whereas I could operate the camera one handed, strapped around my neck. I quickly learned that commanding my horse, Danny, "whoa" stopped him in his tracks with his head and ears straight up in my photograph. Hence I learned to shoot sideways on the saddle.

I am an avid shooter of Velvia RVP 50ASA slide film for its fine grain and great color saturation. However because much of the photgraphic magic is in the early morning, low light hours and constant movement of the cattle, I elected to use Provia RDP 100ASA slide film for most of the photographs and often had to push it to 200 asa rating. Not only was movement a concern, sufficient depth of field was needed for a good range of focus.

Your choice of equipment is probably one of the hardest things to determine. My first day out I took two camera bodies, one for color and one for black and white. Two lenses, a wide angle zoom and a telephoto zoom, several filters, lots of film and extra batteries. Not to mention sunscreen, gloves, chapstick, sunglasses, my lunch, and water. I carried this all in a fanny pack, with my camera around my neck. I found it very difficult to handle two bodies and change lenses while holding on to your reins. Even changing film took some coordination. The fanny pack had prohibited me from sitting full in the saddle. The camera strap (the thin strap that comes with your camera) made my neck ache and being a novice horseman I had other parts that were very sore. The second day I slimmed down to one camera body an my short zoom lenses. I was then able to be a lot more creative and spend a lot less time trying to manage all my gear. I would recommend a very comfortable strap. I would not suggest letting your camera lay on the horse off of the horn of a saddle since a sweating horse can damage a camera very quickly.

A cattle drive is not for one who is finicky about their equipment. My camera was bounced around a lot as I would chase cattle back and fourth onto the trail. You see by this time I was no longer just a photographer along for the ride, I was a part of the team driving this herd. "Hup! Hup! back on the trail ladies" I would shout. Everywhere there is the dust, no way around it, just shoot through it, as it is a part of the ambiance. I carried several cleaning clothes in my pockets and wiped down the lenses and filters as often as I could. Every night I thoroughly cleaned my gear with canned air, oil film remover and a cleaning cloth. More important than checking your lenses is checking your film pressure gate for dirt. A piece of grit here can scratch a white line across the entire roll.

I took two filters with me. One was Tiffens sepia filter so I could capture the feeling of the Old West. The other is Tiffens warming polarizer. Our drive started at 1000 feet elevation and ended up over 8000 feet. The warming part of the polarizer helped neutralize the bluish tint that you will experience at higher elevations. The polarizer helped with sky and clouds, the green meadows and around water. Although it cost me a stop and a half of light, I was most pleased when I did use the polarizing filter.

A cowboy hat with a stampede string was a lot easier to take photographs with than trying to manage taking on and off my sunglasses. The hat kept the sun out of my eyes and could easily be flipped back when taking pictures. When photgraphing cowboys wearing hats, it is advisable to use a fill flash to lighten up the face. Although not practical for the drive I did have a tripod at camp for sunsets, camp photos, and the doctoring/roping shots that I took off my horse.

Thirty seven rolls of film later, my hair is washed, my derriere is back to normal, I can sleep until 6:00 a.m on a soft bed, would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I fell in love with this way of life.

Diane is the only rancher in the Sierra Nevada who drives her herd from her ranch to the mountains without any motor transportation. Driving cattle to the mountains is a tradition. It is what is best for the land and best for the cattle. It is a way of life that is endangered. Diane and her husband Scott believe so deeply in what they do that most of the riders on the drive are young people who are experiencing a drive for the first time. They are getting the thrill of roping and doctoring their first calf. The old rancher with stories to tell, keep a watchful eye guiding the young buckaroos! The excitement echos off of the granite mountains and I pray that the old ways will always be a part of the Amercan way of life.

For more information and reservations on the spring "wildwest photo shootouts"
contact heidi@heidisphoto.com or phone 209-683-8155.

For more information please contact f32

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Last Updated: Sunday, September 3, 2000