Jim Krantz has spent a lifetime immersed in the culture of the American West – beginning with boyhood visits to the local stockyards to watch cowboys herd cattle.
The LA-based commercial photographer and artist grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, where as a boy he would often watch cowboys herd cattle and horses at the local stockyards. “It was a vivid, living image of strength and independence, one that has stayed with me all my life,” he says.
Only now, though, is Krantz publishing his first photobook, Frontier, a visual dive into a career that spans four decades. It features contrasting styles, from classical monochromes to abstract portraits and landscapes, all united by a lifetime spent in and returning to the American West.
“The allure of the American West in Frontier is that pull I’ve always felt – a mix of freedom, grit, and beauty that keeps me coming back," he says. “It’s a place that’s shaped how I see the world and definitely how I approach my work.
“That idea of freedom – the wide open, do-your-own-thing kind – has really pushed me to explore new territory in what I make. I’m always drawn to that edge where things feel both familiar and totally new, and I love playing in that space.”
If the photography seems familiar, that could be because Krantz’s images have been used anonymously for decades in advertising campaigns from major brands including Wrangler, Samsung, Red Bull and the US Marines. He could be one of the world's best known unknown photographers. So how does he balance his commercial and personal work?
“The commercial work I produce outside of the Western imagery found in Frontier has a very specific job to do,” he says. “It needs to communicate whatever message the client wants their audience to see and feel. Just like in Frontier, a lot of the action images I create for commercial projects are highly produced and directed. Both types of work involve setting up situations and shaping the outcome, but with commercial projects there are clear goals that serve the client’s needs.
“When I’m creating personal work, it’s different. I have complete freedom in what I want to say and how I want to say it. So while there are definite similarities in how the work is made – carefully crafted and directed – the big difference is in who I’m creating it for, and what the work ultimately has to achieve.”
Much of Krantz’s work plays with the iconography of the West, using different approaches and techniques to explore territory that is well worn in the worlds of advertising, film and art. His roots are firmly in the world of art – he cites his artist grandfather for giving him a love of colour and composition. Another major influence was Ansel Adams, who tutored Krantz, and is renowned for his landscapes of the American west.
“Even though photography is at the heart of what I do, I’ve found myself stretching beyond it, reworking the iconography of the West in different ways,” says Krantz. “In the studio, it feels less like following a set plan and more like running experiments in a lab—testing, pushing, and seeing where things go. Honestly, I think the best part is when you leave the well-worn path and make your own trail.”
The backdrop to Krantz’s luminous exploration of the American West is a little more bleak. The number of ranches and working farms across the US continues to decline, with the most recent figures showing there were 1.88m farms in 2024 – a decrease of 8% from the 2.04m reported in the 2017 Census of Agriculture.
Krantz explains that Frontier reflects a journey through time – for the American West and in his own life.
“While this body of work keeps circling back to my experiences in the West, that’s more of a reference point than the actual subject,” he says. “When I step back and look at it, Frontier feels like a series of stops along the road – markers of how my work has shifted and morphed over time.”
All images from the book Frontier by Jim Krantz, published by GOST at £75.
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