WEST TEXAS, TEXAS - 2026
The soft evening backlight gives this picture a calmness that would be harder to evoke on a clear evening, and it is all the stronger for it. It is quite rare, in my experience, to be able to work with subdued light in West Texas, and we will take it.
Most basic resource and industrial metal businesses have traditionally been male dominated. The extraction of copper and coal from the ground tended to be characterised by a 100% male worker base.
The oil industry followed this trend, but not entirely, and women are far from excluded from the history of the US oil industry. However, women prospectors faced widespread prejudice regarding their ability to do business or understand the industry. Once they struck oil, they had to work harder than men to attract investors and were often barred from the male-only saloons where many deals were made. It was an uphill battle.
This made the stories of female pioneer success more laudable and I wanted to celebrate this within my wider storytelling series about women living and working on the final frontier. Westerns have been too male dominated for years and women often play the lead role in our stories.
I learnt of a woman​ - Emma Summers​ - who, in 1893, used the $700 she earned from piano lessons to take half ownership of a well and build a business producing 50,000 barrels a month. She became known as the “Oil Queen of California”.
We built this set using prompts from an archival picture of a derrick in the early 20th century. I think my team did an excellent job with the wooden tower and it made for as good a backdrop as I could have had.
Kelsey Merritt was my Landwoman for this shot; she always brings grace and commitment to set and is a joy to work with.