Virginia City, Montana, 2019

Of course, we have worked in this room many times before and I know my light, my angles and the minimal depth of focus. We called last year’s photograph of the mountain men at the bar “The Usual Suspects” as that is exactly what they were. Some of those men rarely leave the warmth of The Pioneer Bar in Virginia City throughout winter – in fact they hibernate there. It proved such a popular image and has sold out across the world – in some cases raising huge sums for charity.  So, when we went back this year, we thought it would be fun to have an additional crew member – Cindy Crawford.

The word juxtaposition is over used in narrative, but I think we can get away with it here. The old boys may drink a bit and smoke a bit of weed, but they were on their very best behaviour that day – which is essentially still medieval. An international icon joining their party was not something they bargained for and at least one cowboy convinced himself it was the weed. We had to call the image “The Unusual Suspects” as a nod to her presence.

The composition, which I could control, had to be spot on, but there is no way that I could control the wolf. It is a low percentage game this and we only came away with one shot – but we got it. Cindy looks fantastically glamorous and a little “bad ass” in her role, but, as always, it is the mountain men that take away the Oscars. Roxanna Redfoot did a grand job too.