Montana, USA

Sometimes a simple narrative can work better than one with many different layers. There is nothing I would change in this photograph. It just works so well. Cindy, who was styled with reference to Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago, looks sensational and the symmetry of the abandoned decaying building is almost too good to be true. Meanwhile, the snowfall is just right; heavy enough to be impactful, without it being a full on blizzard which would have impaired the aesthetic detail. There was enough light that cold morning in North East Montana to allow for a generous depth of field.

The cowboy, who looks like he is losing his glamorous wife for good, hails from Indiana and I have used him as an extra in the past. He wears his weathered Jeff Bridges look with comfort and his positioning against the window was well conceived. Storming out of the house is a marital storyline that many will be more familiar with than would readily care to admit. However, this rift, like the house, looks irreparable.

I love this image, as indeed does Cindy. I can see it adorning the walls of many a mountain lodge in the years to come. What a stroke of luck to dis – cover that building and we will keep its location secret. Even if someone finds it, I think they may well struggle to assemble the other component parts.
As with the first project in 2019, half of all profits of photograph sales from this assignment with Cindy will go to the University of Wiscon – sin’s Paediatric Cancer Care Unit in Madison. The first series raised over $600,000 and only a very few prints are now available at high prices.