Ranch Gates of the Southwest by Witold Skrypczak
all photos © Witold Skrypczak

Every time I travel through the Southwest, I stay off the interstates and busy highways and instead search for small, sometimes unpaved and dusty roads that will take me through the backcountry. It's there that I find my favorite photo subjects - fancy ranch gates and signs that I like to call "cowboy art."

I took my first picture of a ranch gate about 9 years ago. I believe the gates decorated with wrought-iron silhouettes of cowboys, cattle or other animals capture the spirit of this still untamed land and the people who live on it.

Big Buck$ Ranch This sign could refer to a fortune made by it's owners or perhaps to the large deer found in this area. In any case, today the ranch appears to be abandoned. Did the owners make the fortune and leave?

About 30 miles east of Marathon in Brewster County, West Texas. Chamness Ranch Once used as an entrance to the ranch, this gateway can be found on a dirt road near Henly in the Texas Hill Country.

Randy J. Zbranek The evening sun brakes through the clouds
behind gate near Bartlett, north of Austin, Texas.

Henry & Mary Pawelek Pawelek is the family name of Polish immigrants who came to Texas from Silesia in mid-19th century and established the town of Panna Maria (Virgin Mary) near San Antonio.

Turquoise Six Gate on The Turquoise Trail (NM highway 14) near Cerrillos, New Mexico.

Burton's Butte Sign on U.S. 90, between Dryden and Langtry in Texas Val Verde County, at sunrise.

Butlers Moreno West Gate near Eagle Nest, New Mexico.
Enchanted Circle highway (NM highway 38),
with Sangre de Christo Mts. in distance.

I photographed this gate 5 or 6 years ago at TX 17 highway near Limpia Canyon in Davis Mts., Texas. Unfortunately, it is not there anymore.

Oliver Ranch Sign near a ghost town of Juno, south of Sonora at Edwards Plateau, Texas.

O'Bar'O Ranch Gate at U.S.380 near Carrizozo at Lincoln Co, New Mexico, with Sacramento Mts. in the background.