{"id":370204,"date":"2025-08-24T17:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370204\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T17:00:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:00:21","slug":"the-coventry-photographer-juggling-life-as-a-cowboy-in-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370204\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coventry photographer juggling life as a cowboy in Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elliot Ball<\/p>\n

BBC News, West Midlands<\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan Dunn<\/p>\n

Kevin Donnelly describes Arizona as being “massively” similar to Willenhall, Coventry<\/p>\n

“I’m there in it, with the dirt around me, the cows around me, and that’s exactly where I want to be.” <\/p>\n

Kevin Donnelly might have grown up in a Coventry suburb, but unlike his school peers, he now juggles his time as a wrangler and photographer in Arizona, USA. <\/p>\n

He started life at St Anne’s RC Primary School before going on to become a photographer working in Thailand, New York and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

But in 2020 Mr Donnelly discovered “the most beautiful landscapes” and a community “massively” similar to Willenhall, Coventry, but in the American south-west.<\/p>\n

“Willenhall has an excellent sense of community, and it is echoed out there in Arizona,” he said.<\/p>\n

“No one has to pay an interest in someone else’s life, but they do because it’s an honourable, good thing to do.<\/p>\n

“It’s very similar to Willenhall in many ways.” <\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll just bring America to Willenhall then!\u2019<\/p>\n

Discussing the communities in Arizona he has encountered, the photographer said: “I feel like when you get out into rural America, people will give you the shirt off their back most of the time.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people try to give it a bit of stick, but in my experience people have been wonderful – they’re really intrigued that a guy from England would be running around, lying in dirt, taking photos of wonderful horses and taking risks.” <\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Donnelly<\/p>\n

Mr Donnelly said it was “an honour” to photograph rural communities in America<\/p>\n

He added: “For me, it’s an honour to photograph rural communities in the American south-west because these are the people that grow the food for the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

“When I got out there it was everything I thought it would be and more. There were some really interesting subcultures – people of all ethnicities.<\/p>\n

“Out there because life is tough, everyone has each other’s backs – especially in Arizona – everyone looks out for one another. <\/p>\n

“There’s a real sense of community and cohesion, and that’s what I wanted to capture on camera. I think it’s important to tell that story; it’s beautiful.”<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Donnelly<\/p>\n

The Coventry photographer said photographing scenes while on horseback can give him a “really unique perspective”<\/p>\n

While expanding his photography portfolio, Mr Donnelly also works as a wrangler and “works the land”, but he said this gives him a “really unique perspective” compared to other photographers. <\/p>\n

“I’ve always got my camera on me because you never know when a moment or a scene will open up while on horseback,” he said. <\/p>\n

“So I carry my camera while on horseback and snap and shoot where I can. <\/p>\n

“That’s great, because while riding it’s given me the chance to improve my horsemanship but simultaneously get the shot on horseback, six feet off the ground.”<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Donnelly<\/p>\n

Mr Donnelly said it’s “important to tell” the story of rural communities <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elliot Ball BBC News, West Midlands Ryan Dunn Kevin Donnelly describes Arizona as being “massively” similar to Willenhall,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-370204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115084815786112784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}