NEW BOOK RELEASES
Cowboy Up - Stars Riding Bulls - The culture of professional bull riding. (releases Dec. '25 Simon & Schuster)
Cowboy Up! Stars Riding Bulls is a groundbreaking photographic tribute to the fastest-growing sport in America—bull riding, now the #1 spectator sport in the U.S.—as uniquely captured by award-winning photographer Thom Gilbert.
With unprecedented access granted by the Professional Bull Riders Association (PBR), Gilbert captures the sport with unmatched intimacy and artistry. Featuring over 150 original photographs and personal interviews with 61 elite riders, Cowboy Up! goes beyond the arena to explore the real lives of the athletes behind the grit. Through exclusive scenes in the ring, on the road, at home, and on the ranch, Gilbert reveals the human side of a sport defined by adrenaline, precision, and risk.
The project includes rare visits to 16 riders’ ranches, capturing quiet, personal moments in striking contrast to the roar of sold-out arenas. From reigning World Champion Cassio Dias to icons like Jose Victor Leme and Cooper Davis, each portrait and interview offers insight, vulnerability, and raw strength. The bulls, the fans, and the dirt-flying drama of competition—Cowboy Up! delivers the full spectrum of the bull riding experience through Gilbert’s powerful visual storytelling.
This is the first book of its kind: a fine art documentary that offers rare, all-access insight into a uniquely American culture on the rise. Ideal for sports fans, Western lifestyle retailers, rodeo organizations, and collectors, Cowboy Up! is a visually stunning and essential addition to any bookshelf.
SOMEBODIES- THE REAL NEW ORLEANS (RELEASES MARCH '26 SIMON & SCHUSTER)
This is a singular, unique and original exploration of one of America’s greatest and most beloved and visited cities by tourists and explores too of the home environment, by New Orleans residents. This incredible photographic survey punctuated by intimate and lively texts, created by a highly regarded photographer who has a unique eye even when exploring the “normal” is expected to enchant anyone who encounters it. It includes original photographs and a text including a wide variety of photographs by a photographer who always has an artistic and exciting new take on the subjects he photographs. Its subjects run the gamut from music, to historic locations, to important residents, to food, and architecture. Anything that captured the eye of a world class photographer who imbues all of his books with their own life that leaps of the age in words and pictures for its readers.
But the book is not just a photographic survey: Thom Gilbert makes contact with the luminaries in the environment and interviews them in their unique environments. The greatness of this book hangs on the “somebodies” who have made the town the world-class environment that it is today. Just some of the “names” here interviewed and photographed include James Carville, Emeril, John Baptiste, John Berendt—international luminaries who have made the ethos of New Orleans boundless on a national level. New Orleans is known for it’s round-the-clock nightlife, vibrant live-music scene and spicy, singular cuisine reflecting its history as a melting pot of French, African and American cultures. This book embodies all of these and its festive spirit that begins with Mardi Gras and ends with a great meal, documented in a singular way by a world class portraitist of cultures writ large.
Like every book and photographic work created by Thom Gilbert, this is a first book of its kind: a fine art documentary that offers rare, all-access insight into a uniquely American culture on the rise. Ideal for local residents of New Orleans, visitors and armchair tourists, and collectors of unique fine art photography. It is visually stunning and an essential addition to any bookshelf. Oh!...and it is lots of fun, too.