Last of a Breed

Rating:
Summary: In admiration of cowboys . . .
Review: Photographer Schreiber is a romanticist of the West, with an eye for the individuals who choose life and hard work in the outdoors. His deep-focus black and white photographs often find their subjects in the foreground against the vast landscape, an empty sky, or a large sparely furnished room. The strenuousness of the work can be seen in photos of men slouched in chairs or on the ground, staring blankly.

Some pictures have familiar subjects, such as branding calves and roping horses. Others are nice surprises: four men talking together and leaning across the hood of a Ford pickup, a backyard photo of a wedding party, the groom and two best men in big cowboy hats, a cowboy outside a liquor store holding a flat of six-packs. Schreiber in his introduction says the cowboys he's known embody the qualities of honesty, integrity, sincerity, and kindness. This collection of photographs is a celebration of those values.