Ian Michael Flores
The stand-off

The Catalina Herd

Santa Catalina Island, California · 2026
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Fourteen bison were brought to the island for a film shoot in 1924 and never taken off. A hundred years later their descendants graze the prickly pear above the Pacific. The day begins at anchor in a cove on the windward side and ends on a slope above the interior road, waiting.

At anchor, the windward side
At anchor, the windward side
Dusk in the cove
Dusk in the cove
Open water, the last of it
Open water, the last of it
The herd on the ridge
The herd on the ridge
Spread across the slope
Spread across the slope
Three, on the cactus slope
Three, on the cactus slope
Through the prickly pear
Through the prickly pear
Among the cactus
Among the cactus
Looking back
Looking back
Closing
Closing
One of them moves
One of them moves
Both of them, and neither moving
Both of them, and neither moving
Head down
Head down
Two, and the sea behind
Two, and the sea behind
Turning
Turning
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