Behold

The Female Handgun Owners of Texas

Vianne, Sugar Land, 2011.

Shelley Calton

The idea for Shelley Calton’s series about female gun holders, “Concealed,” came from a friend who had a strange experience at a hair salon in 2011. Another woman in the salon dropped her purse, firing off a handgun that was inside. The bullet ricocheted around the salon.

“I saw my friend right after that,” Calton said. “She was just horrified, and that was the story that motivated me [to begin the series].”

Finding women around Texas to participate in the series was relatively easy—in total, Calton photographed 70 women and said only a couple turned down her request to photograph them. Kehrer published the photos as a book, Concealed: She’s Got a Gun, last year.

“Each of the women I photographed had their own unique backstory about what motivated them to buy handguns,” she said. “Some of them had incidents in the past, and some of them just decided they wanted to do it for self-protection.”

Carrie, Houston, 2012.

Shelley Calton

Jennifer, Dickinson, 2013.

Shelley Calton

Calton said almost all of the portraits were taken in the homes of her subjects, often close to where they kept their handguns (the majority by their beds). Although the work could easily be called environmental portraiture, Calton sees it a bit differently.

“It was more about the subject matter, not really about portraiture per se, so for me it was like telling a story,” she said. “Telling a story about this subculture of women in Texas who decided to arm themselves.”

It isn’t the first series about women who are part of a subculture that attracted Calton. In 2005, Calton embarked on a four-year project, Hard Knocks, about roller derby. She was attracted to the alter egos the women took on when they entered the rink; as she immersed herself into their world, she said she “felt I could relate to them.”

“It’s a strange femininity thing I search for,” she said about her work. 

Korie, Houston, 2012.

Shelley Calton

Calton was raised in Texas and said guns were part of her family’s life during her childhood. (Her father owned a pistol for protection.) While working on Concealed, Calton decided to get her concealed handgun license because she felt it would be a way for her to relate better to her subjects; it worked.

“I started going to the shooting range and getting comfortable with my gun, and I felt like the women could relate to me as well,” she said. “I think as I went through, as I heard their stories and reasons for owning the guns I could start to understand them better.”

While photographing the women, Calton said that although she selected locations based on aesthetics and light, she was open to serendipity. The image Jennifer, for example, began as a portrait of the gun owner, but when her young son ran up and grabbed Jennifer’s leg, Calton knew that was the image. She said prior to taking the portraits, she checks all of the guns to ensure no bullets are loaded. Although Calton said most of the women spend a lot of time practicing shooting at gun ranges, actually firing a weapon doesn’t come naturally to most of them.

“I try to make them feel comfortable, but you know, having a gun in your hand isn’t comfortable for anyone.”

Carol and Sandy, Kingwood, 2011.

Shelley Calton

Casey, Houston, 2014.

Shelley Calton

Previously on Behold: