At the foothills of the Chiricauha's, somewhere between Tombstone and Wilcox, on a road seldom traveled, grazed a pair of steeds dressed in hues of orange-brown. A short distance from them a small herd of cattle rambled about the Sacaton grass with heads down as they foraged. Behind them, on gentle slopes, the mesquite trees grew in a haphazard formation, lining the mountain with shades of green and auburn brown. Like the thunder that booms at monsoon, I was struck by the fulfillment of this old west scene. I had to stop and capture it.

A thin barbed wire fence, virtually the same from its invention in 1871 to today, separated the pasture from the road. As I set my camera up next to it one of the horses looked up to see that had disturbed it normally immutable serenity. I quickly fired the shutter.

In my mind, I imagined that this was a scene that had played out in these fields since the late 1800's. It was then, as the areas largest city, Tombstone swelled in a chaotic battle between the carpetbagging eastern expansion of capitalism and the agrarian self-rule of the areas settlers that the area became known as the last of the old west cities. In these fields and mountains, the great Chiricahuas leader and strategist Cochise led his band of Apaches in raids of the local forts and settlements until the US government finally relented and granted them a treaty. It was here the Cowboys, at the time a highly derogatory term, rustled cattle and robbed stagecoaches, disappearing in the aftermath into the San Simion valley. It was here that the great ancestors of these horses and cattle roamed the fields.

Although much has changed over the centuries much has remained the same. Southern Arizona is still the Old West. Globalization and modernization are slow to make progress here. This area is a proud bastion of those that cherish a life of agrarian harmony with the land and the self-sufficiency of minimal government rule. It is here, amongst these memories and in these current times, that I have found the home I searched for all my life. I am blessed to be its scribe.
Shoot Date: July 12, 2018
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Aperture priority ¹⁄₂₅₀₀ sec at f/6.3 0 EV
Lens: TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011 @ 150 mm
ISO: 800