Ranch Raised Kids

Aubrey Owen, M Spear Ranch

©Seth Joel

RANCH RAISED KIDS

ARTICLE BY TAMRA KELLY PHOTOS BY SETH JOEL ~

I’m a lifelong Arizonan who grew up around ranches managed by my grandfather throughout the state. I now ranch with my family in central Arizona. So you can imagine I was a little suspicious of the enthusiastic couple from Hollywood that excitedly walked into my office a few years ago drilling me for information about ranching, cowboys, cattle and the lives of ranch kids.

I didn’t know at the time, but they had met my younger brother, Kasey Looper, and his children a few years before at the Skull Valley Café as they were traveling through northern Arizona. This is where the idea of Ranch Raised Kids was born. Seth Joel and Charlie Holland sat in a small café and struck up a conversation with local ranch raised kids, Cole, Rio and Saige Looper. They were immediately impressed with the kids good manners and charm; later they had the opportunity to observe their cowboyin’ skills at the ranch. That same year Seth and Charlie attended the Arizona Cowpunchers Reunion Rodeo in Williams, Arizona and met more ranch families. They were hooked! They spent the next few years traveling to every part of Arizona to get to know these traditionally-raised, highly-skilled and well-educated ranch kids.

After getting to know Seth and Charlie during meal time at our ranch my husband and I realized they had an unbridled passion for the west and the culture of our ranching community, and they were extremely impressed with the ranch kids they had met. They decided to tell the stories of these young individuals through a photo essay that promoted awareness of the cattle industry to beef consumers, urban communities and young people throughout the United States.

©Seth Joel

Seth was born in New York City. His mother was an advertising executive and his father was a staff photographer at Life Magazine. Seth was mentored by his father and apprenticed to a well-known photographer when he was eighteen years old. In 1979, Seth set up a photo studio in the Forbidden City of Beijing and photographed two-thousand-year-old objects for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was the first westerner to photograph the famous Terracotta Army when the figures were being excavated from a tomb in Xi’an, China.

Seth became known for photographing the world’s most treasured objects on location in museums, galleries, institutions and private collections worldwide. His clients include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Armand Hammer Foundation, The Museum of Modern Art,Harry N. Abrams, The Smithsonian and The Rockefeller Foundation. Hispersonal work includes photo essays on food culture and documentingthe new wave of old time musicians.

Charlie was born and educated in the United Kingdom. She studiedanthropology in London and conducted research in Ghana, WestAfrica. She then traveled across the Sahara Desert from West Africa toSpain on her way home to London. Charlie moved to New York andworked for national and international magazines. Her experiencein entertainment magazines led to a job in marketing at UniversalStudios, Los Angeles. She led the creative department at Getty Imagesin Los Angeles, assigning and sourcing photography internationally.Recently, Charlie has taught at Art Center College of Design and is anArchival Assistant at the Autry National Center.

Charlie and Seth have worked side by side on the Ranch RaisedKids project since 2015 traveling, photographing and interviewingranch kids throughout Arizona. They have spent thousands of hourson the production and writing of Ranch Raised Kids. Seth’s honestportraits transcend stereotypes and capture beautiful moments inthe life of a child raised on a ranch. The kids have straightforward conversations with Charlie and in their own words tell the stories ofmodern ranching through a child’s perspective. They are grateful andcherish each and every family that was a part of their Arizona RanchRaised Kids project. They cherish the many times they were helped,fed, and ‘explained to’ and have appreciated the love and respectthey have been shown.

©Seth Joel

One of their favorite memories was a visit with the Rodgers familyin Northern Arizona. As they were watching the dust settle after thecrew rode out at dawn on midsummer morning, the cow boss handedSeth the keys to the ranch truck, a Ram 3500,with a brief, “You knowhow to drive one of these right? We should be at the branding corralat noon. It’s about 7 miles away. Kade will show you.” Kade was aseasoned 4 years old. But, sure enough, Kade took the lead makingsure Seth and Charlie did not get lost on the way to the brandingcorral – and, they were on time.

At first, Seth and Charlie had a tough time“blending in.” AtCowpunchers, Charlie joked with an older rancher that she was goingto have a tee shirt made that said “Not From Round Here.” The ranchershook his head and said, “You don’t need the tee shirt.”

Their travels were not without challenges. They remember arriving at the Flying UW Ranch in Southern Arizona. There were seven peopleand five horses waiting for them. Before a hello, a little ranch kid washugging Charlie’s knees and the rancher was saying, “Your tire ishissing.” With lightning speed he took the tire off, threw it in the backof a truck and drove it up to the shop. That man has a PhD and wasrecently Arizona Cattleman of the Year, but his priority in that momentwas to fix the visitors flat tire. This is one of Charlie’s fondest memories.

©Seth Joel

Ranch Raised Kids can be seen daily on RFD-TV Market Day Report.Seth and Charlie have provided over 400 photos for the channel torun each day. My husband and I often start our morning waiting to seewhich of these young cowboys will make their debut on television. It isnot only fun, but a great opportunity for the cattle industry to educateand invest in the future of our young ones.

With assistance from the Arizona Cattle Industry Research andEducation Foundation, Arizona’s Ranch Raised Kids was published inDecember, 2018. It is the first in a series of books focused on ranchraised kids in the western states of Arizona, California, New Mexico,Utah, and Nevada. Seth and Charlie have plans to publish a book thatoffers a fresh look at the West: The reality of contemporary ranchingand the children that are being bought up respecting the past whilepreparing for the future.

President of the Arizona Cattle Industry Research and EducationFoundation, Suzanne Menges, expressed, “the Foundation is thrilledto offer this comprehensive overview into dozens of ranches fromthroughout Arizona and the children who live on these unique anddiverse operations. This is real-world, contemporary ranching throughthe eyes of the next generation who experience it everyday.”

©Seth Joel

To obtain a copy of Ranch Raised Kids contact: Suzanne Menges President, Arizona Cattle Industry Research and Education Foundation at: colsaf2008@gmail.com or send order form to: P.O.Box 842, Safford, AZ 85548.

©Seth Joel

The Ranch Raised Kids project was presented to the CaliforniaCattlewomen’s Association at their convention in Reno, Nevada in2018. Seth and Charlie are currently shooting ranch kids in Kern Countyand are planning and looking for sponsors for New Mexico RanchRaised Kids in 2020.A BIG THANK YOU! Arizona ranching families thank you, Seth Joeland Charlie Holland, for your undying enthusiasm, hard work anddedication to our ranch raised kids!

©Seth Joel

©Seth Joel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tamra S. Kelly is an Associate Broker of CPNA and head of its Ranch and Farm Division and Qualifying Broker of Ag Lands Southwest. She sells cattle ranches and other agricultural properties in Arizona and New Mexico. Contact: tamra@aglandssw.com