Y'know, I had told myself that I was going to stop at two of the figures that ThreeA makes. Just two. I wasn't going to be tempted by any others.

Yeah, well...

The Blind Cowboy was actually the figure that got my attention of ThreeA figures. He usually comes in a set with a large, heavy, beautiful sculpted horse, and the price on the site is crazy high; certainly higher than I can ever rationalize buying. So I'd just google search images and look at them, totally in love with how the figure looks.

Then someone put up the Cowboy for sale individually. There are collectors of ThreeA that buy sets with the specific purpose of breaking things up and selling pieces of them. Lots of people buy figures and then sell the body, the head, the clothes, the accessories all separate. And this is what someone did when the put up the Cowboy separate from the equine. And it was a price that I jumped at, because, as cool as the horse is, the Cowboy is cooler.

So I nabbed him. And a little while after photographing my Tomorrow Kings at Clough State Park, we went back for another day of relaxation and picnics and book reading, and I grabbed my camera again and spent the afternoon making portraits of the Blind Cowboy.

Tons more images after the cut:

I knew as I was shooting these I was going to do a little more post-processing than I usually do on my photography because I wanted to add some stuff that would make the images look old and aged; like someone took some tin type photographs of the Blind Cowboy back in the late 1800's. I knew I wanted them black and white. I knew I wanted some sloppy borders on them. Like something you'd find at a flea market, or inside some old antique store. I wanted to give the Cowboy history, even thought he doesn't exist.

I found a fantastic little cement area used for making fires and cookouts and I cleaned it out a bit, and the scale fit perfectly for him. He could be hanging out in an old building foundation or along some old wall on the border of Texas and Mexico. It was perfect. It was also a really nice sunny day, so there were shafts of sunlight coming down through the trees of the area we were in. Everything was lined up perfect.

The Blind Cowboy comes with guns. All kinds of guns. He's got six guns on his belt. He's got a gun wrapped around his ankle. He's got a rifle. He's loaded. Plus, he's blind, and has a great fabric wrapped around his eyes. His costume is fantastic; from his bendable cowboy hat, to his Clint Eastwood style poncho right down to his stylish cowboy boots. He just ooozes Old West.