CANVAS
VOLUME 2, 2017 / 2018
SCOTT BAX T ER Life on the Range
The Storyteller Kelly Vaughn, Writer
Three times, Scott Baxter and I have worked together in
hands and cowboys goes back to his childhood, when he’d
the Range,” the subject’s eyes reveal her familiarity with her
Sonoita Creek with his dog Zilpha. As the sun went down, we
Southern Arizona.
watch westerns on television and read their sagas in the pages
The first time, he’d found a story in Patagonia. A man in a
portraitist. She was an old woman, but her eyes are all light
of a book.
drove with Harrison to his favorite bar, where he spun stories
creek, the writer Jim Harrison.
and depth and beauty.
“There’s a picture somewhere of me as a boy,” Scott
with a handful of writer-artist friends.
The second time, he’d found a story in McNeal. Farmer
“I was just sitting with Connie talking, as we had been for
remembers. “I’ve got a cowboy hat and two six-shooters.”
He was, indeed, a bit of a character.
cousins, working to save their family’s legacy.
a while,” Scott told me as we edited the book. “Sometimes
It was the genesis of something he wouldn’t fully understand
I think we were a little quieter during the long drive back
The third time, a story found me in Sonoita. A ranch kid
to get someone to do what you want them to do — look past
for years.
to Phoenix than we had been driving down. Some stories
turned model-actor turned country music star.
you — you just make them comfortable. They’ll gift that to
He rode horses as a teenager, too, but it wasn’t until he
sit in your belly for a while before they run from your head
These are just a few of the profiles we’ve worked together,
you, open that up to you, if they feel comfortable.”
wrote his thesis on the annexation of Texas that he realized his
through your hands.
telling other people’s lives through photographs and words.
The photographs themselves are gifts.
real passion for the region.
When Harrison died in March 2016, I remembered him the
The others have been north and east, on ranches and on
A glimpse into a quiet moment on a ranch. The grit of a
Then, he moved to Arizona.
way Scott photographed him. Honestly.
reservations, down a dozen dusty roads.
branding. The movement of the remuda across gold-colored
“Coming out here wasn’t meant to be permanent, just a few
As Scott approaches his 60th birthday, he’s looking at
In fact, we’ve traveled a lot together over the past seven
grass. Boots and spurs, eyes and ropes and hands.
years,” Scott says. “My step dad told me that if I wore out a
his work and at his life a bit differently. Within a year, he’ll
“Several things really stand out when I look at Scott’s
pair of shoes, though, I’d never leave.”
photograph 12 friends using his Rolleiflex and just a single
work,” says Arizona Highways Photo Editor Jeff Kida.
His shoes wore out.
12-shot roll of film. And, soon, he hopes to start a project with
“First, it’s immediately apparent that he enjoys what he’s
his longtime friend, Mike Campbell.
photographing. Second, he has a great sense of rhythm and
“We want to take a number of extended trips before
timing, nothing feels forced or contrived. His work draws
we get too old to do it,” Scott says. “Throw a dart at a map
years or so, ever since I wrote about Scott for Arizona Highways. He was in the middle of 100 Years 100 Ranchers, a marathon project that celebrated families who have ranched in Arizona for 100 years or more. The project coincided with
At first, it was the vastness of the landscape that drew Scott
the state’s Centennial in 2012, and as I sat with Scott to talk
west. But then it was the people.
about it, it was easy to see that he works in a way that’s
me into the scene, and I’m allowed to enjoy it — as if I’m on
“I appreciated the time it took to go places — to get
and spend two weeks a year for three years in whatever town
different.
location with him.”
from point A to point B,” he says. “But I was never really
we end up in, working and shooting. We’d go back at the
Because Scott Baxter doesn’t just make photographs to
Indeed, being on location with Scott is easy, the starts to our
a landscape photographer. I got to know the people, got
end of three years and have a show. Just so we can spend
make photographs. He studies people. he makes return visits.
stories easier still. With Harrison, he sent me an email:
to know their stories. It wasn’t as though I thought I was
He drives long and far and often into the widest reaches of a
There might be an interesting story for the magazine down there.
some time.”
on a mission, but I could tell some stories weren’t being
Jim Harrison, the writer, lives next to the Bergiers and uses one of
place to make his portraits.
told. I always try to do something that’s less about art and
their old ranch houses to write in for the last 20+ years. He winters
And his projects — 100 Years 100 Ranchers, Top Hand, The
photography, and more about stories and historical context.
in Patagonia & summers in Livingston, Montana. He wrote,
Outside Circle — take time. Most often, they take years.
About trying to preserve something.”
“Legends of the Fall.” Just an idea. He seems a bit of a character.
“When someone sticks out their hand and looks you in the
The photographs are often in black and white, captured
Just a thought.
eye and they shake your hand — that’s my impetus
on large-format film. The method is a slower, more personal
for finishing,” Scott told me back in 2011. “It just needs to
A few months later, we eased into the interview, watching
process, allowing him to study the spirit of the people
get done.”
birds dance and dive into the bush around the writer’s deck,
he photographs.
And so much of his work gets done in the West.
watching Harrison chain smoke American Spirits. Hours
In one of my favorite of Scott’s portraits, a shot of the H4
His affinity for photographing sweeping grasslands, horses,
passed like minutes, and Scott photographed our subject
Ranch’s Connie Brown that appears in his new book, “Life on
in his writing room, in the doorway of the little cottage, in
“I always have projects in mind,” Scott says. “Most of these things come to me in a really quiet moment. I’ll have some thought and will jot it down in a notebook. I’d like to work with a writer and a poet or a painter. The West is the West no matter how you’re looking at it.” So he’ll keep working, keep pushing. Because stories seldom tell themselves.
Jim Pyeatt, Pyeatt Ranch, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, Ranching Family since 1899
Bennett Griffen, Griffen Cattle Ranch Gila County, Arizona
First Snow
Eagle People, Navajo County, Arizona
Jerry Vojnick, Dave Perkins Ranch, Yavapai County, Arizona
Mothering Up, Wyoming Range
Minnie Griffen in the Headquarters Kitchen, Griffen Ranch, Gila County, Arizona
Hands & Honda, O’Haco Cattle Company, Coconino County, Arizona
Jim Harrison, Sonoita Creek, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Joel, Maricopa County, Arizona
John Ladd at the old house, Ladd’s San Jose Ranch, Cochise County
Guy A. Nicholl, Nicoll Bros. Ranch, Apache County, Arizona
Jim Riggs, tumbleweed and the gate, Crossed J Ranch, Arizona
Frank Stephen, Stephens Ranch, Mohave County, Arizona
Jesse Hooker Davis, branding at the Sierra Bonita Ranch, Grant County, Arizona
Joel Maloney
Jones on horse
Newell round pen
Tanner’s Spur, Voight Cabin, MLY Ranch, Apache County, Arizona
Sam Luce, Luce Ranch, Greenlee County, Arizona
Sheila Carlson, Flying M Ranch, Coconino County, Arizona
Sam in his Scotch Cap, Y Cross Ranch, Apache County, Arizona
Silkie Perkins at Bakers Pass Tank, Yavapai County, Arizona
William Faulk, Denton, Montana
Clayson & “Momma� at Grand Falls, Navajo Nation, Arizona
K.T. Thompson, Schoolhouse Section, MLY Ranch
Sy Westbrook, Apache County, Arizona
K.T. on the push, Schoolhouse Section, MLY Ranch, Apache County, Arizona
Working the Loop, Schoolhouse Section, MLY Ranch, Apache County, Arizona
Survivor
Connie Brown, H4 Ranch, Gila County, Arizona
Sy Westbrook, Apache County, Arizona
Bert P. Randell with his horse Buddo, Randell Ranch, Coconino County, Arizona
Doc Sam, Amazing Grace, Luce Ranch, The Blue, Greenlee County, Arizona
Scott Baxter
scottbaxterphotographer.com
Scott is a photographer based in Carefree, Arizona. His award winning photographs has been featured in, American Cowboy, Arizona Highways, Cowboys & Indians, Men’s Journal, and Western Horseman. His fine art photography is in the permanent collections of the Phoenix Art Museum, The Desert Caballeros Western Museum, and The Scottsdale Public Art Program. In 2014, he was awarded both Best of Show, and Gold Medal for works on Paper at the West Select exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum. Scott also recently completed 100 Years 100 Ranchers, a ten year official Legacy Project for the Arizona Centennial. This compilation of compelling large format black-andwhite photographs depicting many of Arizona’s longestactive ranchers, 100 Years 100 Ranchers, has been featured in exhibits and presentations across the state. Arizona Highways Editor Robert Stieve described the project as “the best photographs ever made of ranchers in Arizona” with “a historical importance that doesn’t exist anywhere else. 100 Years 100 Ranchers isn’t just a series of artful and captivating black and whites, it’s a permanent record of a way of life – a disappearing way of life – that has deep roots in our state.”
Sunee’s Spur #2, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Scott’s stark image of rancher, Sam Udall entitled, First Snow, was featured on the December, 2011 Cover of Arizona Highways – 50 Greatest Photos.
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