Critters on the Ground
Last week I made a short trip to West Texas to photograph a day worker cowboy (see our upcoming September issue), as well as some ranch mares and foals. The weekend before I was there, the area had received 5 inches of rain, which is unheard of in that part of the country, especially in July.
The grass was unbelievably green. The gravel roads were flooded. The air was muggy. Cows were fat. Horses were muddy. One veteran cowboy said he’d never seen so much rain.
One of the negatives, particularly when you’re the type of photographer who finds himself crawling around on the ground, is the critters.
Big red ants had been flooded out of their holes, and a number of them were flying in the air. Tumble bugs were busy doing the dirty business that they do. Grasshoppers the size of buffalo wings (no joke) were lumbering on the ground.
And then there were the tarantulas. On the road later that evening, I saw about 30 eight-legged jay-walkers in the space of 20 miles. But seeing them from the safety of your truck cab is different than watching one at ground zero. Shortly before taking this photo I had stomped a fuzzy tarantula to death. Then I spent about 15 minutes sitting on the ground, taking these photos of mares and foals. I tried not to think about what multi-legged creature might wander up my pants leg.
Watching the pic, it was worth to deal with those critters!!!