The title – “The Cowgirl Cometh” – seems composed of a lot of unrelated words. Here I am mixing a 16th Centry term – “cometh” – which was used a lot in plays of Shakespeare with a 19th century term – “cowgirl”. But, I think it is aptly suited given what the photo represented. The cowgirl was just about to perform in a bit of modern day theater, taking her horse through the paces of pre-planned exercises. Consequently, she was just about to take the stage on the ground of the NY State Fair Coliseum to  begin her performance.

In some ways, I was shooting for a somewhat iconic like photo akin to the scenes of the protagonist of an action flick as the hero or heroine either emerged from the light source, or slowly made his or her way into an arena to face the villain. In this case, the heroine mounted her steed, and slowly trotted into the arena to put on a performance for the awaiting spectators. This was her final performance at this event as this was the last day of the Empire Apaloosa Classic Horse Show at the NY State Fair.

I caught her as she was just making her entrance through the large gates of the Coliseum. The alternate entrance provides a brilliant backlight which enveloped her and provided a contrasty outline of her sitting atop her horse while the perspective added to her mystery as this saddled heroine’s face is not visible. She calmly made her way into the arena with one arm arched to her lap – a truly grand entrance.

Shakespeare once wrote –

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts …”

In the Cowgirl Cometh, this cowgirl was making her entrance int to the arena to play one of her many parts.