Over the last few years I’ve been commissioned to photograph the construction of a massive chemical project in the USA. My shoots have been planned and facilitated by my good buddy Randy, a safety specialist at the existing plant, and an all round great guy.

A few weeks ago Randy advised me of a package arriving for me care of a colleague who was flying to South Africa.
I’ve just picked up the package and to my great delight, it’s a pair of – wait for it……… cowboy safety boots!

On my last shoot I had noticed a few of the construction workers wearing these outrageous cowboy style safety boots and decided I gotta get me some of them. They are fully compliant, steel toecapped, chemical and electrical resistant and all the rest. Unfortunately, being loaded down with masses of gear as always, I just couldn’t buy a pair to bring home with me.

As an industrial photographer, one our most important pieces of equipment, after the cameras I guess, is a really comfortable pair of safety boots.

Well, I pulled these on as soon as I got back to the studio. Unlike most safety boots they are immediately comfortable and I am beyond delighted with them. Thanks Randy, what an amazing gift!

I haven’t taken them off yet and have been thinking that if, as they say in the old Westerns, a man gotta die with his boots on, I guess I should die in these!

Actually, I’m going to test these out to see if they’re comfortable enough for me to sleep with them on.

The dilemma now is that as they are such great boots, can I see my way clear to actually using them on site? You can see the state of my old boots and I’m worrying about how much it would hurt to mess up the new ones.

The flip side of that coin is that they would probably just get more awesome with some mileage, dirt and wear on them.

Life’s full of tough decisions……….