Marathon, Texas – 2023

In our research for the oil set we were building in West Texas, we tried to find prompts from old monochrome pictures of early oil derricks. This type of computer work appeals to me, whether wearing the hat of an amateur historian or indeed a photographer. Historical black and white images from the Wild West of 120 years ago or more have long had a pull on my visual sensibilities and I am proud to own two original Edward Curtis portraits.

Cameras 120 year ago were operationally limited at every level, and no more so than when trying to freeze action. It dawned on me that if we were to build a set based on our understanding of wildcatting in the early years of the 20th century, we could then use that set to take the actions shots that were simply impossible to capture in the era to which we were playing homage.

My leaning was to be as immersive as possible and have action across the frame. I just hadn’t seen this concept played out in a still image and that encouraged me. Of course, we took hints from Paul Anderson’s Oscar winning movie There will be Blood and in particular the scene when oil was struck for the first time. My sense was that there would be a degree of panic in the crew amidst all the excitement and that panic must be conveyed.

The irony with this photograph, is that despite everything that is going on, and our current anxieties about drilling for oil, there is beauty and romance. The story is a good story and that will always be so. Without oil, where would we be now?

Marathon, Texas – 2023

West Texas is the hub of the American Petroleum industry – so much so that West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) is a benchmark crude oil futures contract traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Oil was first discovered in West Texas at the turn of the 19th century and the reserves in the Permian basin are so big that the region still produces 4m barrels a day – a third of US oil production.

With oil came a story book of characters. My sense was that drilling sites in West Texas in 1915 were loosely governed and uncompromising places, where avarice and sin lurked around most corners. Wildcatting in the wild west came with little cultural refinement and probably a cavalier abuse of unchecked power.

To incorporate all this in one vignette required using the space on our set efficiently. There were many thoughts in my mind that morning near Marathon, Texas, but the overarching one was to offer a sense of place. It is not such a challenge in West Texas, which is why so many acclaimed movies, such as Paul Anderson’s Oscar winning There will be Blood, were shot in the area. We return here regularly to tell stories and each time our ambitions have broadened. It is a place that has traditionally not rewarded modesty.

As a photographer, I try and resist the urge to both “show and tell”. I prefer to just “show” and then it is up to the audience to interpret.

I am not sure of the relationship between the woman and the oil man, or indeed any of the drillers, or what she was doing in town. But at this very moment in time, the crew had more important matters to deal with and whatever her game, it was going to have to wait.