j.sugarmann
Killing of Cows and Spikes
KILLING OF COWS AND SPIKES Photographed by L.A. Huffman. Though this photograph is dated as 1907, there is a probability that it was taken earlier. Huffman closed his Miles City studio in 1905 and spent the following years reprinting his work. The date may be that of the reprinting. As pictured the print is a 20” X 24” reissue on Ektalure X paper. This image was originally issued by Huffman as a postcard. “Vintage prints” are still available for purchase from Coffrin’s Old West Gallery in Miles City, Montana. The word “spike” as used in the title is a colloquialism for bull.
Laton Alton Huffman came to Miles City, Montana in 1879 to take over the position of post photographer at the military settlement of Fort Keogh. Huffman had a background in ranching, and his ability to ride and ranch allowed him outstanding access and mobility within the region. Though Huffman’s images portray a wide variety of subjects and views he is best known for his documentation of the cattle industry and the cowboys of the open range. Huffman’s ranching background also bled into his style; he in known as a photographer who showed the west “as it really was,” creating images which displayed the conditions and habits of the frontier without the accompanying romanticism. Huffman went on to open a successful photographic studio in Miles City. He died in 1931 at the age of 77.
Huffman is known to have documented the decline of the buffalo (the other vanishing race of the American west) with a sympathetic eye. In this image, however, he seems to suggest the utility (or at least the normalcy) of the kill. Eight dead bulls and cows are pictured in this image. They are arranged in such a manner that no apparent flight seems to have occurred. The buffalo have dropped as they stood, and they appear peaceful in death. The day is bright and sunny, and the image is not intended to be emotionally dense as much as it is a depiction of normal life. There is a horse grazing freely amongst the fallen buffalo. It is saddled and is slung with a rifle. The rifle is an interesting element, for it suggests that the rider must have laid down the firearm in order to use his hands towards other means. Is he planning to skin the buffalo where they lay? Or is he taking a photograph? I find the latter to be the more likely conclusion, a conclusion which suggests that the photographer is the one to have killed these animals. And that shared perspective is extended as an invitation, or even a celebration, to the viewer.
Killing of Cows and Spikes
KILLING OF COWS AND SPIKES Photographed by L.A. Huffman. Though this photograph is dated as 1907, there is a probability that it was taken earlier. Huffman closed his Miles City studio in 1905 and spent the following years reprinting his work. The date may be that of the reprinting. As pictured the print is a 20” X 24” reissue on Ektalure X paper. This image was originally issued by Huffman as a postcard. “Vintage prints” are still available for purchase from Coffrin’s Old West Gallery in Miles City, Montana. The word “spike” as used in the title is a colloquialism for bull.
Laton Alton Huffman came to Miles City, Montana in 1879 to take over the position of post photographer at the military settlement of Fort Keogh. Huffman had a background in ranching, and his ability to ride and ranch allowed him outstanding access and mobility within the region. Though Huffman’s images portray a wide variety of subjects and views he is best known for his documentation of the cattle industry and the cowboys of the open range. Huffman’s ranching background also bled into his style; he in known as a photographer who showed the west “as it really was,” creating images which displayed the conditions and habits of the frontier without the accompanying romanticism. Huffman went on to open a successful photographic studio in Miles City. He died in 1931 at the age of 77.
Huffman is known to have documented the decline of the buffalo (the other vanishing race of the American west) with a sympathetic eye. In this image, however, he seems to suggest the utility (or at least the normalcy) of the kill. Eight dead bulls and cows are pictured in this image. They are arranged in such a manner that no apparent flight seems to have occurred. The buffalo have dropped as they stood, and they appear peaceful in death. The day is bright and sunny, and the image is not intended to be emotionally dense as much as it is a depiction of normal life. There is a horse grazing freely amongst the fallen buffalo. It is saddled and is slung with a rifle. The rifle is an interesting element, for it suggests that the rider must have laid down the firearm in order to use his hands towards other means. Is he planning to skin the buffalo where they lay? Or is he taking a photograph? I find the latter to be the more likely conclusion, a conclusion which suggests that the photographer is the one to have killed these animals. And that shared perspective is extended as an invitation, or even a celebration, to the viewer.