A cowboy, a poet, an actor, and a saddle maker, Martin J. "Boomer" Bergin is the first and only real cowboy I've ever had the opportunity to photograph. Mr. Bergin is one of the last true American Cowboys, and he's full of incredible stories. A saddle maker by trade, he's lived and worked out of his home in St. Louis, MO since 1975, after having grown up in West Texas and New Mexico. He's handmade and sold his saddles to working cowboys in eleven countries, and produces around fifteen per year. Talking with this man feels like talking to a legend that stepped straight out of a John Wayne (Boomer's self-confessed hero) western. Myself and Gary Winchester spent a little more than an hour with him in his saddle shop, and learned a great deal. An actor, working with Robert Duvall, Tom Selek, and Sam Elliot, a writer and performer of cowboy poetry, and a collector of pipes, boot knives, and six-shooters, Martin is truly one of a kind. He represents a breed of man that's long since been lost in this country. He's performed his poetry on the Today Show, Johnny Carson, and for President Clinton himself. Thanks for an interesting evening and for welcoming us into your home, sir.
Ryan Walters | St. Louis Portrait Photographer
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