Justin Sheely

Reflecting on the culture of rural Wyoming.

Perhaps the greatest pleasure as a working photojournalist in rural Wyoming was meeting people. I met some of the kindest, and the roughest folks during my time at The Sheridan Press.

Most of the images in this collection have captions and are therefore owned by The Sheridan Press. I cannot sell prints of these images, but requests can be made to the current photo staff at the paper.

I recall seeing a critical comment on the news paper’s Instagram photo of a wife-carrying competition. (The photo is featured in this gallery.) The author of the comment was disgusted with the photo, labeling it as “homogenous” and “sexist.” Obviously, the author had never visited Wyoming, and would probably never understand the people either. Homogenous? Sure. Nothing wrong with that. Sexist? Maybe. But the competition was invented in Europe, and women are generally easier to carry than full-grown men.

Wyomingites do not care about the opinions of outsiders. In fact, they would prefer outsiders to stay where they are. But that doesn’t make them mean or bigoted people.

In Wyoming, I met people from different walks of life. Many of the people I photographed were either children or rodeo competitors. Some were old ranch hands or retired coal workers. Some were engineers, doctors, educators, and theatre actors. Many were conservative, others were liberal, and some didn’t care at all. All were Wyomingites. All loved loved living in Wyoming as it was. The prevailing attitude for a homegrown Wyomingite is this: If you come to Wyoming, and love it as it is–not feeling the need to change things–then you belong.

However, this doesn’t mean that the people of Wyoming are not without their faults. There are also systemic and cultural faults: toxic stigma toward mental health, gender pay gap, social inequality, and extreme bias in favor of agriculture and coal industries (Dare I add animal abuse in Rodeo to this list?). While some of these things are slowly changing, and some not at all, these issues should not be used to disparage the good people of Wyoming, rather, one should attempt to understand the perspectives of the locals before throwing accusations of bigotry.

Wyoming is a unique state. It is, perhaps, the most conservative state in the union. Moreover, it is a state that values conservative traditions and the cowboy’s Code of the West. To try to impose modern ideals and ever-fluid political correctness is to kill what makes Wyoming, Wyoming.