Jordan Valley

Juano

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Jordan Valley area in Eastern Oregon (population 179). Interesting community of ranchers that have been there for generations and Basque sheep herders that arrived to the area in the early 1900s.

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Earache

Handsome series Cristóbal... the isolation and environment are well conveyed. #2 is quite interesting.
As a kid, I remember visiting Basque communities in Nevada - great food!

WernerG

This is a very nice set, great sense of place.

Juano

Earache wrote: »

Handsome series Cristóbal... the isolation and environment are well conveyed. #2 is quite interesting.
As a kid, I remember visiting Basque communities in Nevada - great food!

WernerG wrote: »

This is a very nice set, great sense of place.

Thanks guys, it was quite an experience to see these people so devoted to their land, their ancestry and their way of life. A lifestyle that may become extinct as it is harder and harder to keep the young generations involved, a lot of hard work and 100% devotion...

lensmole

Interesting set ! I especially like the first one ,but I wish you had more texture, detail, and some shadows ,I think a bit of a different angle,lighting, would have helped in this regard.

Juano

lensmole wrote: »

Interesting set ! I especially like the first one ,but I wish you had more texture, detail, and some shadows ,I think a bit of a different angle,lighting, would have helped in this regard.

Thanks for the comment, a different angle perhaps, the light was as flat as it gets, completely overcast sky... no shadows whatsoever.

DaddyO

Jordan Valley. Interesting place to find yourself. Image 4 ... have seen that convenient hold before
at a spring cattle calving and branding roundup. Was kinda taken a bit aback when I saw it used for the
first time. With all that was going on for the rancher with his hands on the task at just that moment there were no good options for setting the knife down and kept clean all during the job at hand.

Good set of images you came away with

Juano

DaddyO wrote: »

Jordan Valley. Interesting place to find yourself. Image 4 ... have seen that convenient hold before
at a spring cattle calving and branding roundup. Was kinda taken a bit aback when I saw it used for the
first time. With all that was going on for the rancher with his hands on the task at just that moment there were no good options for setting the knife down and kept clean all during the job at hand.

Good set of images you came away with

Thanks Michael, That's exactly what #4 was about, branding, vaccination, ear-tagging, castration of newborn calves. Jordan Valley is right across the border from Boise, I assume you know the place... It was a very interesting experience. Thanks for looking!

DaddyO

Cristóbal, your works made me go back and look at my images from similar activity you participated in.
Turns out, and curiously so, that my very first image from my experience is that of similarity to the action going on in your image 4. And I took way more of it than I thought I had. Unfornately I have too
much of the gentlemans face for comfort in most of them. No model releases and I was invited on site
so I have only shown 1 image from the effort. Think I showed it on dgrin anyways The rancher who invited me, an old family friend, primarily wanted pictures of his grandsons for their birthdays. And maybe enough images for a calendar. Have yet to figure out the calendar part. Maybe if I use Images from other photo ops that fit ranching Idaho I could get somewhere with that.
Wish I had paid more attention like you have with your images 5 & 6. 6 has me wondering. As it should.

"Across the boarder from Boise" That cracks me up Cristóbal. ... Yes, I have been to Jordan Valley several times. Quickest way to Reno. Not enough to memorize it firmly. Did take a picture, or many, years back on film. While reading Understanding Exposure Bryan Peterson I discovered he had also bothered to be there and take some images shown in that book. In one of his shots taken from the steep hillside ride side of the highway as you leave town, I
had practically picked the spot he selected. Not exact just close.

black mamba

Nice series....gives a good impression of the place and events going on.

Before things got so scary down there, I was privileged to participate in a huge cattle drive some Mexican friends of mine staged on an annual basis. I always felt like I was in the movie " City Slicker " but I managed to survive those ordeals with minimum damage to my body and psyche.

Every year I'd come away with the same lasting impression: real cowboys have got to be the toughest hombres on the planet. That is the dirtiest, most back-breaking work I've ever been around. At the end of each trail day, I'd look at all the other riders and I couldn't help but think I was looking at a bunch of really big Raccoons riding horses....all you could see was two big eyes staring out from a dirt-caked face. I don't think a single one of those guys weighed over 150 lbs. and had, at maximum, 1 percent body fat. Talk about wiry dudes...and I think any one of them could have whipped Mike Tyson.

Tom

Juano

Thanks for the comments Tom and Michael. I agree with you Tom that these guys are as tough as they come. It is hard work 365 days of the year, in this area of the country the land is rough and extensions huge. One of the ranches I visited was 250 thousand acres! I was told of another one that was 1 million acres. Cattle are not really "raised" but more like "harvested" with minimal human intervention for most of their lives.

Thanks for looking.

isdilly

Great shots, and interesting views. Love the perspective on #4!

Juano

isdilly wrote: »

Great shots, and interesting views. Love the perspective on #4!

Thanks!