In 1979, Richard Avedon was commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum to photograph the people of the American west. Instead of photographing the high rollers whom he was normally attracted to, he photographed normal people - miners, cowboys, drifters, and so on. Avedon photographed these people in an unusual setting for them - a white background. He used an 8x10 view camera and tried to provoke people into showing him a different side of their personality that wasn't normally captured. He developed these 125 photographs into a large format that distinguished him from other photographers. From his six year project, he produced a book and traveling exhibit, In the American West. The exhibit was both praised and criticized for showing these people in a different light, a light normally reserved for celebrities and politicians.