Q&A with Roeg Cohen ← Back to the Interviews

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United States

What sparked your interest in horses as a photographic study?
Shooting Horses started with one picture. I was on a farm in Pennsylvania, and I shot one frame of a white horse in it’s stall. I didn’t give the image much thought until I came across it a couple of years later. It held the qualities I had realized I liked in images. It felt candid, and intimate. It’s still one of my favorite pictures. After that I started to keep my eyes open for horses. Then one day I was driving in Northern California, and I came across a Mule standing on a hill. He stood in perfect profile just long enough for me to shoot a roll of film, and then he turned and walked away. It felt like he allowed me, (with a certain vanity ) to take his picture.

The experience was really amusing and exciting. So with those 2 images, I decided to make a project out of it.

I had never spent a lot of time around Horses before that…I also don’t ride. So I don’t inherently know how to relate to them. They’re not like dogs..you can’t ingratiate yourself to them so easily. So I get to learn something. I think curiosity, and discovery are important to any project. It’s been a wonderful experience, and almost every image has a story for me.

There is also something wholly American about Horses…That’s another aspect that interests me. They’ve witnesed from the beginning, the destruction, birth, and growth of America.

What are you plans with the images you capture from your horse project?
The goal for the project is to eventualy have a big enough body of work to have a show, and do a book.

What’s one noun you haven’t had the opportunity to shoot that you would like to?
It’s almost a cliché… Girls driving 70’s Hot Rods in the desert. That’s more then one noun….Sorry.

I’m originally from Toronto. I spent a few years in California, and now I live in New York. I’ve been here 7 years.

I started taking pictures when I moved to New York. I was feeling a lot of creative urgency, and I needed a way to express it. Photography seemed to be a good outlet. I tought myself by carrying a camera around with me everywhere…picking the brains of other photographers..and trial and error. That tought me the basics. It also helped me to learn what kind of photographer I am. I wasn’t good at street photography. I was never comfortable approaching strangers. And I didn’t like the possible confrontaions of just stealing pictures of people.

I realized that a remote intimacy was what interested me. And I tried to learn what it took to achieve that.

See more of Roeg’s work:
roegcohen.com
roeghorse.com