The Last Cowboy - Contemporary Cowboy Photography

by Adam Jahiel

While the Erwin Smith exhibition offers a historical look at the end of the open range period, The Last Cowboy, an exhibition of contemporary photographs by Adam Jahiel, of Story, Wyoming, demonstrates that cowboy life and culture hasn't completely disappeared, particularly on the large ranches of the Great Basin region of Nevada, Idaho and Oregon.

In the Great Basin, Jahiel sees the cowboy as one of the last authentic American breeds, bypassed by technology and time.

While Smith often posed his subjects to create artful compositions, Jahiel rarely does so. He prefers to wait patiently for "the decisive moment," finding that each time he goes out to shoot, reality offers a wealth of shooting possibilities. He considers these "found" images.

"To produce what I consider to be an honest and truthful body of work," Jahiel has written, "I think photographers have to do more than love what they do. They have to immerse themselves in the world to the point where they start to understand what their subjects' lives are like. If we do our job right, we in a sense become what we photograph."

In this spirit, Jahiel works hard to earn the trust of his subjects. He makes extended trips to the ranches where he photographs, often returning, so that his subjects become familiar with his presence and almost forget he's there.

Jahiel, 42, was raised in Illinois and majored in commercial photography at the Brooks Institute of Photography. He later earned a degree in photojournalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia. After serving as an apprentice with Douglas Kirkland for two years in Los Angeles, he began a freelance career doing editorial, motion-picture and corporate photography. He has worked on such projects as the acclaimed film "Out of Africa," but also was drawn to adventure projects, most notably as the photographer for the landmark French-American 1987 Titanic Expedition. His work has appeared in most major U.S. publications, including Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and for the National Geographic Society.

Adam Jahiel, Roping a Cloud, Winter's Camp, IL Ranch, Nevada, 1994.

Adam Jahiel, Part of His String, Stateline Camp, Nevada-Idaho Border, 1992.