It
was by pure chance that we found this treasure trove of a saloon bar
off a remote country road in Western Montana. Time appeared to have
stood still for over 100 years and as an authentic “Final Frontier”
canvas on which to tell a story, I have never seen a better room in
which to work.

There
was not one hint of modernity and the wooden and leather finish to the
pool table was absolutely remarkable. The attention to detail throughout
the bar was exceptional – the Bucking Horse is a labour of love for its
owner - a true mountain man called John Crane.

48
hours before Cindy’s arrival, we spent a morning in the bar exploring
every angle. The window light was okay, but the ambient light was
marginal and it was clear we only had one angle to work with as I could
not shoot towards the two windows. Luckily, with my maximum wide-angle
lens, we could, from the chosen position, include enough of the bar to
do it justice and also major on the pool table - which was the standout
feature of the saloon.

The
next question was what to do? This is an outstanding location and we
needed to do it justice. We knew that the pool table would be critical
and if we were to bring a wolf into the mix, he would need to be
involved in the game.

On
the day of the shoot, Cindy killed it - she was such a presence and
that was exactly what I asked for. She owns the bar with her sovereign
and authoritative look. I wanted to create a final frontier vignette
that had a menacing overlay - no out of towner is coming into this
territorial bolthole, playing pool and leaving with the cash. It is Wild
West American hustle