Come for the Photographs, Stay for the Ranching

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Jean Laughton crisscrossed the country from 1995 to 2002, photographing rodeo athletes decked out in denim and chaps. When she was done, she settled in the South Dakota badlands and bought an inexpensive house in the tiny town of Interior. She figured she would spend a couple of years taking portraits of the people she met there and then move on.

A decade later, she hasn't left.

Her decision to stay put came after she visited the Quarter Circle XL Ranch in southwestern South Dakota and met Lyle O'Bryan, a “real old-time cowboy” who was raising about 350 head of cattle, mostly by himself but with some help from his neighbors.

Jean Laughton “Working Cattle on the Brunsch Ranch.” John Bauman counted cattle.

“They're straightforward, honest, hard-working people that take pride in their heritage,” Ms. Laughton said. “They herd cattle from horseback, not from four-wheelers.”

The first time she photographed Mr. O'Bryan at work, she ran alongside, always a few steps behind the photograph. She soon switched to horseback and started accompanying him and the other hands as they drove cattle. When she rode with a crew of 25 ranching neighbors, she said, “it felt like I had traveled back in time.”

She started staying at the ranch more and more and began to learn the ropes. Soon, she knew she didn't want to leave.

Many of the local ranchers make their own gear and dress the way a photographer might hope a cowboy would. But it's not only the clothes that make the man, Ms. Laughton learned.

“What they wear doesn't make someone a good hand,” she said. “It's integrity, courage and not giving up. A good cowboy knows his craft, can endure all kinds of weather and can react at the spur of the moment.”

Jean Laughton “Branding on the Double X.” Baxter Badure, on the white horse, dragged a calf to the wood fire for branding.

Using a digital camera to document these men was out of the question. She settled on a Noblex panoramic film camera that gave a very wide image, which seemed particularly appropriate for the large, empty expanses.

Ms. Laughton remembers when she met Baxter Badure, a local rancher who became a good friend. He emerged slowly over the vast horizon on horseback, appearing hat first. It was a scene that seemed taken from a 1950s CinemaScope western, and Mr. Badure seemed straight out of Central Casting.

These were judgments Ms. Laughton was professionally qualified to make, by the way.

Before she headed west to the world of real cowboys, she had worked in New York City as a casting director for print advertising campaigns and television commercials. She made her living finding the right types of models and actors to fit commercial conceptions of real life. She also worked with many great photographers, including Richard Avedon, who inspired her to start taking pictures herself.

Jean Laughton “Trailing Cattle In on the Double X Ranch.”

When she moved to Interior, she thought she would occasionally fly east to make money as a casting agent. Instead, she started living and working at the ranch, learning how to rope calves and drive cattle. She is still learning.

“It would take two lifetimes time to learn what Lyle knows,” she said.

Photographers are often urged to dig deep into a topic to really understand their subjects. Ms. Laughton has dug so deep, she is developing roots.

She now owns 75 head of cattle herself, and she and Mr. O'Bryan, 79, run the ranch together - without any hired help. It's important to her that the way of life in her ranching community survives as long as possible.

“I think of ranching as a way of preserving land, the wide open spaces, and the culture and heritage of the West,” she said.

When she arrived at the Quarter Circle XL Ranch, everything looked like an old photograph. Now, she sees it also as part of a modern-day story of corporations taking over and small ranchers disappearing.

Ms. Laughton fears that soon, cowboys may exist only in commercials and on Imax screens.

“The old timers are fading out and taking with them all the wisdom they carry,” she said.

Jean Laughton “A Foggy Shipping Day on the Brunsch Ranch.” Preparing the calves for the sale barn.

If you happen to be going eastbound on Interstate 90 in South Dakota look for a 12 by 36 foot billboard with one of Ms. Laughton's cowboy photos (slide 6 above). It's hard to miss. The billboard which celebrates the state's cowboy heritage was partially funded by the South Dakota Arts Council and will be up until July 2014. Ms. Laugton also writes the blog “My Ranching Life“.

Follow @JamesEstrin and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.