An Old Cowboy

I was recently at a photography conference where I heard Phil Borges (www.philborges.com) show some of his amazing photos of Tibetan people and also of women worldwide. His goal now is to empower "ordinary" women in simple villages and towns who are making a difference. He used an interesting photo technique that I have let lapse in my own arsenal of tricks: selective color. He also is amazingly gifted in using local backgrounds.

My own life is not as glamorous as his, but I have long been fascinated by the cowboy and western culture that surrounds me in the hills where I live. I decided to apply Borges's technique to this photo of Ron Scofield. I visited Scofield a couple of years ago with a mutual friend. When we arrived, he had been doing some sort of outdoor work, but immediately dodged back into his house and donned his cowboy duds. Scofield is something of a local legend, known for his careful rebuilding and repairing of nineteenth century carriages and wagons.

To get this effect from what was originally a color photo, I desaturated it by about half, applied a black and white adjustment layer, and then used a layer mask to bring back the color in Scofield, leaving the background black and white.