ARCHIE WEST AND HIS PAL “BUDDY,” SAN MARCOS, NEW MEXICO 2001
Photograph by ©Craig Varjabedian  All Rights Reserved

Just as I was preparing to photograph Archie, the dog Buddy wandered into the scene. I’ve talked about recognizing the precise moment, and this was it. Buddy sat down, then lay down and started to chew on his leg. Archie looked down at him with the kind of amused look any cowboy would give a little “dude” dog. I said, “Archie, look at me,” and he shifted his gaze to me. He had no time to react to anything, to me, to my request; he didn’t even have time to make a joke—he was still in that momentof being with Buddy.