On the Wagon-Train Trail

Les Voorhis photographs an exodus to the historic town of Deadwood with the Tamron SP 17-50mm VC and SP 70-300mm VC lenses.

Article by Jenn Gidman

Images by Les Voorhis

Photographer Les Voorhis had the recent opportunity to participate in the Medora-to-Deadwood ride. "I spent 10 days and 128 miles on horseback, and I think I felt every 128 of them by the end," he says. "When you go across the prairie on a nice, soft, paved road, they've taken out all the bumps, but when you're in a wagon or on horseback, you experience all of it."

To shoot the wagon train procession, Les used the Tamron SP 17-50mm F/2.8 VC and the SP 70-300mm VC lenses (he also used the SP 24-70mm VC lens for some of his cowboy shots). "I have custom saddlebags that allow me to carry two camera bodies on my saddle," he explains. "I had the 17-50 up by the saddlehorn, while the 70-300 was back by the seat of the saddle, or what we call the camelback. That way, depending on the circumstances, I was able to quickly grab one lens or the other. The wide angle was obviously great for showing that big, expansive prairie, while the 70-300 was useful for getting in real close to accentuate the wagons or the sky or the prairie off in the distance - I could basically extract a part of any scene I thought was cool."

Being on horseback gave Les a lot of flexibility. "I could go off to the side or between the wagons and be able to move around," he says. "I tried to get a sense of the openness and scale of the country we were crossing. It was almost a feeling of isolation, which is what the original pioneers going across the prairie for days on end probably felt."

The Vibration Compensation feature on the Tamron lenses Les used also proved invaluable. "The VC was huge," he says. "I shot many of these images really early in the morning or late in the evening, many handheld from the back of a moving horse. I've trained my horse really well so he'll stand and stay put, but sometimes he breathes or I breathe or he shifts weight. I do carry a tripod on my saddle, but if I had to dismount and retrieve the tripod for everything I shot, I'd miss a lot of images and also be exhausted by the end of the day.

On the Road
Environmental shots of cowboys on the trail can be among the most difficult to take. "It has to be a good portrait and a good landscape shot at the same time," says Les. "I have a tendency not to think that much about the rule of thirds or leading lines or any of those compositional mandates I learned long ago. What I look for is an image that has flow - some way to lead the viewer's eye into it and out of it. Often, I'll have a foreground anchor, which helps bring the viewer into the frame, then incorporate the lines or whatever other 'flow' there is. If you look for that, suddenly, without even trying, you'll find all kinds of compositional rules at play that you didn't have to force."

Showing detail shots of the cowboys' gear illustrates what it takes to make it out in the wilderness. "You can put some stuff on the wagon, but for the most part, you have to carry everything you need on the horse with you - your wagon might be a couple of miles ahead of you," Les explains. "Everyone always talks about the traditional, romantic dress and equipment of the cowboy, but everything they bring is there for a purpose. In my images, I tried to show that everything I saw was functional."

The 70-300 came in particularly handy when Les wanted to get in real close for those detail shots. "For instance, I spotted a pair of gloves tied in a rope on one guy's saddle," he says. "I was just riding next to him and talking, and while we were talking, I got out my camera with the 70-300 and was able to zoom right into those gloves."

Capturing the personalities of the participants in a rodeo or wagon train procession is also a compelling way to tell a photographic story of the cowboy lifestyle. "Some of these men are very authentic as far as what they include in their wagons," Les explains. "Others go for more modern comforts. One of the guys on this trip installed car seats from a Volkswagen Jetta into his wagon, as well as car leaf springs and rubber tires - it was like riding in a Cadillac! His partner was this little pup who rode in the front seat with him the entire way. If anyone else wanted to ride with him, they had to ride in the back."

When Les does have a chance to shoot faster-moving events, such as cowboys at a rodeo, he makes sure he always keeps an eye on where the action is - as well as where it's going. "The biggest mistake I see people make is that they kind of hammer away and don't really think about where the image is going," he says. "They forget about that balance and flow I mentioned earlier and are just happy to get the image into their frame. You need to slow down mentally and really pay attention to what's going on in the viewfinder. You don't want to simply hold down the shutter button. Maybe you want to time the shot so that the rope is in a certain place or the lead horse's legs are in the right position to showcase that movement. Doing this goes a long way to making a strong image, as opposed to just a 'nice' shot."

Once the sun starts to go down, Les scours the landscape for his favorite type of cowboy shot: the silhouette. "I actually say there should be a 12-step program for people like me who do cowboy silhouettes," he laughs. "I love a really good, graphic shape. Shadows and silhouettes give you that and tell a really compelling tale, whether it's a silhouette of a cowboy up against a sunset, a cowgirl standing next to a barn or horse, or weary travelers entering their tent in the evening with their bedrolls."

Les is taking his 24-70 and 70-300 on his next venture: into the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. "I'm looking forward to this trip, which is also on horseback - we'll be able to get into areas that are usually difficult to get to on foot," he says. "It will be fun to photograph the desert in bloom."

To see more of Les Voorhis' images, go to www.royaltineimages.com.