The Great American Cattle Drive Slideshow!

About a month ago, I hit the hilly terrain of Ellsworth County with my friend Jeff Cooper to document the the Great American Cattle Drive. I simply marveled at the beauty of the state of Kansas. So many of my friends and clients who live elsewhere around the country or world frequently echo the stereotype: "Kansas is so flat." THAT, my friends, is because often those people don't get off of Interstate-70.

Now that I've recovered from all the fun, I've had a chance to edit through my images and put together a slideshow. So, sit back, relax and view the parts of Kansas that are NOT so flat!

Also, prints from the event are for sale from Jeff's lab and half of the print profits go to help restore the town's Signature Insurance Building. Since Jeff is producing a DVD of the event with audio and photos, I am not making my slideshow available for purchase. The DVD will be previewed at a banquet this weekend and I'll try to get a clip for the blog!

The Great American Cattle Drive

I'm at the Great American Cattle Drive in Ellsworth, Kansas!

My friend and my first photo editor in college, Jeff Cooper asked me to assist him with photographing the drive. I jumped at the chance for a real "city slicker" adventure.

I arrived a day early so we could scout locations and so I could meet the longhorns. We drove over the hill, and my jaw dropped. I've never seen so many longhorn in my life (there are 140 longhorns on the drive). The above photo was taken during the scouting trip.



Day one of the drive involved Jeff on horseback and me on "truckback" as I've said all week. I took his truck and drove county roads and pastures, accessing the route where possible. This was made after jumping a creek and a little climbing.


The first night, the participants camped near Haystack Mound. The scenery on the trail is breathtaking! I eyed the water and thought I should hike around the pond to see how the view was from across the water — and it was worth it!


After a fantastic meal, the campfire started up and guitars and stories abounded.

They'll drive all 140 head of longhorn down Douglas (the main street in Ellsworth) at 2 p.m. Saturday, so once I recover from all the festivities, I'll post a slideshow, so please check back!

I'm also assisting with interviews so Jeff can produce a DVD slideshow for the event coordinators. I'll post a link to the DVD clip once it's ready, so be sure to check back!

Jeff is also hard at work uploading the photos to his online lab, so please be sure to check here to see the photos ... they're in the process of being uploaded this week!