STORIES
Maillot Jaune
The 2019 Tour de France was one of the most exciting in Le Tour's 116 year history. 176 riders representing every corner of the world took off from the starting line, racing over 3,065 kilometers during the grueling 21 stage event. For the first time in history, a Colombian - Egan Bernal - finished in Paris with the best time, earning himself the Yellow Jersey (French translation, Maillot Jaune). He was also the youngest champion in modern day history to win. From the opening ceremony in Brussels to Bernal's victory lap around the Champs-Élysées, I documented the entire spectacle while working for one of the teams competing (Team Astana, based out of Kazakhstan).
Where There’s Smoke: Lakeview Veterans Hotshots
Having achieved certification on Veterans Day in 2018, the Lakeview Veterans Hotshot Crew is the only Interagency Hotshot Crew in the country that prioritizes enlisting and developing former military veterans. From front lines of battlefields in war-stricken corners of the world to the most rugged backcountry in North America, the individuals on the Lakeview Hotshots are accustomed to putting their lives on the line to ensure safety for other American citizens. Based in Klamath Falls, Oregon, the Lakeview crew employs 15 permanent wildland firefighters, adding another 10 seasonal members during the months large-scale wildfires are most prevalent.
Black Bird Dog Trials
While legal segregation was struck down by the Georgia Legislature in 1965, Black Georgians have dealt with its fallout long after. In 1981, after being refused entry into dog trial competitions simply because of the color of his skin, Neal Carter decided to start his own field trial — The Black Handlers Club Trial. 2022 was the 41st running of the event, which took place amid the Weeping Willows and Sprawling Oaks of Thomasville, GA.
Wildflower of West Texas
“I live in Polvo, which used to be a town and isn’t anymore. There’s no businesses for twenty miles except a barn you can pull up to, honk, and grab a twelve pack of Lone Star. That’s not to say it’s a forgotten place. People have lived in this valley for ten thousand years. To live here now is to be reminded of how we will all be swallowed up by time and dust. That’s what Polvo means. Dust. The desert is callous. Whoever gave this place its name realized that too.
I went to school for years to be a poet. I thought someday I would be an English professor. I would wear a leather-elbow jacket on some neo-Gothic campus and have lofty conversations about truth and beauty while quietly accumulating a pension. That changed when I was introduced to the great love of my life, the Big Bend.
I want to settle down here and die, and not too soon. I’ve always thought that settling down would mean a Big Bend man, a Big Bend house, and a Big Bend dog.
The Big Bend men—spittin’, cussin’, gun-totin’ loners of the mold Waylon & Willie warned of—come & go.
Years of overdraft fees, hand calluses, and a blown-out shoulder later, there’s a Big Bend house, but it doesn’t belong to me. Its roof is held down by a pair of tires. It’s a luxury I have a flush toilet, but it’s in an outhouse that gets so startlingly hot on 120-degree days I end up doing my business outside anyway. My cell phone doesn’t work here, so I have a landline only my boss calls.
At least I can say now I have the Big Bend dog. He’s not the mean-looking street pit I’d dreamed of, but I hold him sometimes and think about how similar we are. How our smallness betrays our toughness. How we both came out of the river and decided this was our place.
I don’t have a lot, but I have this place. I have the stars, the mountains and the big blue sky. I have the river and everything she has to teach me. I’m not from here, and it’s a long story how I ended up living in a ruin in a town on the border that’s so small it doesn’t technically exist. From the outside it looks busted, and it’s nothing fancy. But it works just fine.”
Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles
In a profession historically reserved for machismo and facial hair, one mariachi band has become a trailblazer for the next generation of female musicians who envision themselves on stage. Purists in sound and style, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles takes great pride in the traditions of their culture. Reyna (translated in English, Queen) is the first all-female Mariachi band formed in the United States. From playing for President Obama at the White House to being nominated for a GRAMMY in 2009, these twelve women continue to influence history together.
Lonetree Ranch - Lonetree, WY
Founded in 1918, Lonetree Ranch was the largest cattle operation in the Cowboy State in the early 1900s. In 2009, Dr. Robert Taylor purchased the ranch, which is located in Southwest Wyoming's Uinta Mountains. Taylor and his family run cattle in the high country during summer, and down in the valley along the Henry’s Fork River during the rest of the year. The ranch consists of over 30,000 acres of land.
Josh Raggio - Raggio Custom Duck Calls
Growing up in the heart of Mississippi with a father who is an avid outdoorsman, duck hunting is in Josh Raggio's heart. In 2013, Josh left coprorate sales to start his own business - selling handmade duck calls. Flash forward to 2019, and the wait time to get a call is over 13 months. Josh makes heirloom duck calls that will be passed down through generations of families around the world.