Dwight: We worked with a cowboy out in Oakdale, California who has experience as a stuntman for film. His knowledge from being on set was incredibly helpful since he both understood what we were looking for and how difficult it would be to actually achieve. We also learned that cowboys like to drink Keystone beer all day (which seems to have no impact on job performance!)

Yes! While cattle may be considered to be domestic animals, these cows are in no way trained. By nature they are completely uninterested in following directions or turning their heads just so. Originally, the cowboy we worked with said getting the cows to stand still long enough for their “portrait” couldn’t be done. Somehow, over the stretch of a couple of days, he figured out a way to make it possible.

Cataloging has been a consistent theme in my studio’s work – such as Bicycle San Francisco and Ingredients:. I’ve always been fascinated with herds of cattle, but wanted to shoot them in our distinct style. Having them pose for individual portraits is what really makes the project ours.

Oscar Printing Company in San Francisco – we’ve worked with them on several projects and they are located close to the studio which is convenient for press checks.

Our friends over at Manual Creative. They designed a similar poster for our Bicycle San Francisco project a few years ago and we thought the format would lend itself well to the Cattle project.

Jamie and Taylor at my studio did the initial prep work on the files, I took them from there and then my longtime retoucher – Alex Katz at blinklab – finished them.

We made 2,500 and sent out about 2,000. My rep, Kelly Montez at Apostrophe Reps, will use some as leave behinds and we keep the rest around the studio to hand out.

We try to send printed promos about 4 times a year but in reality we get 2-3 out. We generally send out postcards and once a year feature a special project, like the cattle.