The breathtaking Wyoming scenery and stunning horses of Wagonhound Land and Livestock are artfully captured in photographer Anouk Masson Krantz’s 2022 book Ranchland: Wagonhound. The book received the 2023 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Photography Book.
Ranchland: Wagonhound can be found in hardcover on Amazon.com.
This large-format art book is dedicated to the American rancher who honors and embraces the traditions of the American West while conserving the land for future generations. Wagonhound, at 300,000 acres, is one of America’s largest working ranches. Krantz’s fine art black-and-white photography offers an intimate look at ranching culture.
Krantz is originally from France, and she’s a self-taught photographer. After coming to the U.S. in the late ‘90s, she started taking photos 15 years ago. Krantz published her first book in 2017, and the second came out in 2019—her first Western book. Since then, she’s published three more Western photography books. Her next project is a sequel to this book, taking her across the Americas.
Ranchland: Wagonhound was published by The Images Publishing Group, and the book is available on Amazon.
Q&A with Anouk Masson Krantz
Western Life Today: What drew you to photograph the American West?
Anouk Masson Krantz: It really came after my first book, which was something I did out of love, and never thought I’d publish another. But when it became a bestseller, I was asked, “What’s next?” and I wanted to find other unbelievably beautiful landscapes. I had photographed the majestic beauty of Cumberland, Ireland, and its wild horses over the course of 10 years. So in my mind I wanted to find other landscapes, but ones that were inhabited by people. It didn’t take me very long to think about the cowboy. But from where I come from, we only know about cowboys through the silver screen, magazines and books that we read. Our knowledge about the cowboy is based on many misconceptions.
With one phone number of a rancher on a scrap of paper, I started my journey in 2018. That scrap of paper became another one, and another one, and many phone numbers of ranchers and cowboys throughout this country who have introduced me to their friends, and helped me craft the story across several years.
WLT: Why is your photography black and white?
AMK: I’m minimalistic. I like to focus on true emotions, and I don’t like distractions.
WLT: How did you choose Wagonhound as the subject for this book?
AMK: I had traveled across the country from Florida, with cracker cowboys, all the way to California, Montana, Texas, and states in between.
While I was working on my second book, American Cowboys, I was introduced to Art Nicholas, the owner of Wagonhound. He invited me back to Wagonhound, and when I visited for the first time, I made the drive up to Douglas, which was about a four-hour drive.
I made the right turn off the paved road onto an endless, winding dirt road. Within a couple of miles, I kept on stopping. I was just taken away by the beauty of the place.
When I met Art, and he asked me if I would do an art book for him, I didn’t even think about it. It felt like such the right fit. After traveling across the United States, it was exciting to make a deep dive into one ranch to best capture the daily lives of these people who worked from dawn to dusk and put food on American tables. And that’s what I did for the following two years.
WLT: What was your experience like while capturing these images?
AMK: It takes time to capture different seasons, and the different rhythms of the ranch with its people, the animals, the wildlife and mighty Mother Nature. I spent time with them, riding along on cattle drives, sleeping in teepees, climbing mountains, and getting stuck in blizzards to name a few.
I just wanted to see the real thing. There was no specific agenda or schedule. I just went out there and spent time with these men and women who work all day every day.
WLT: What was your goal for this book?
AMK: I have very low expectations with everything I do. I pour a lot of love and passion into my work, into my photographs, into my writing.
My hope was to create a body of work, through Wagonhound, to share with the rest of the world what life is like on one of these ranches in the United States. To better educate people what ranchers do, and how they are incredible stewards of the land. It was an opportunity for me as an outsider to open a window into these lives and way of life to the rest of the world.
This Q&A with photographer Anouk Masson Krantz appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of Western Life Today magazine. Click here to subscribe!
