Call of the wild
portrait work of first trademark rather years Time Randal challenged has ago. than photographer and appeared Ford, “For style humans Texas the to on the use Monthly, glamorous animals on Austin-based about his whose the cover eight was ‘Diary recalls, photographed outside Today’ laughing, of Waco, magazine,” 12 electing cows he in Ford a for barn studio outdoor lighting habitat. over Verizon the everyday soon tapped to depict him the to carrier’s use a similar range style of data size plans, from “small” (portrait of a kitten) to the “extra big” (a leopard). “It was amazing to shoot these predators in a studio,” says Ford, 37. So he started on a series that has resulted in his first book: “The Animal Kingdom: A Collection of Portraits,” published this fall by Rizzoli New York ($40). To capture “the ordinary and mundane animals we see in our backyards to the exotic that would only be seen on a safari” — think an African quarter horse with elegant braids and the ayam cemani, an exotic breed of chicken from Indonesia but a resident head-to-toe-black photographed background of East — on Ford Texas; a animals black reached both he out to Angeles rural Texas agents farmers, who manage Los celebrity animals, rescue habitats and pet owners with not-so-ordinary pets (a skunk named Bandit, for example). Some of his work took place in large commercial studios where his subjects had room to strut, preen and crawl. More often, Ford created a mobile studio in barnlike settings. All 150 species — shaggy Highland cow sisters named Gertrude sphynx and who his share head flamingo; lazily a cat; singular resting and lays a cockatoo, Eleanor; the on aesthetic. in his chimpanzee his side hand a armadillo hairless with The — animals’ often the detail, comedic, distinct a result come personalities, of the through in “consensual shares with his dialogue” subjects, Ford whether human or beastly, writes famed photographer Dan Winters in the book’s foreword. For his part, Ford hopes the wide range of animals will encourage readers “to see them as our peers,” like a 1-year-old lion cub whose still-developing mane looks like a rebellious teenager’s mohawk. The process ranged from frightening — Ford notes the keen, agile senses shared by a wolf and an arctic fox — to frustrating (Perry the two-toed sloth, who melted into the ground, refusing to pose for a usable photo, before the crew coaxed him to a branch where he hung upside down). Still, Ford says nothing was as challenging as corralling his own “wild things”: he and wife Lauren’s three young children, to whom the book is dedicated.