It’s Rodeo Time!
My entry into rodeo photography was this weekend at the Rising Stars Calf Roping held at the famous Lazy E Area. Although being around ranch life for over 23 years and attending numerous rodeos I had never attempted to photograph one. Breaking into rodeo photography is an incredibly difficult as most rodeos already have event photographers and those photographers don’t take kindly to outsiders coming to the arena and giving the optics of “moving in on their way of making a living”. But at the same time I have talked to two great rodeo photographers - Frank Shedden (Oklahoma based) and a connection on Instagram, Kyle out of South Texas. Both are truly fantastic rodeo photographers and have been a massive help leading up to the event. After shooting my first rodeo I can look back and their guidance and suggestions were valuable to say the least. I owe a huge amount to them.
So… like I said I have been to countless rodeos and if you haven’t been around one they are an amazing experience.. from the fast paced action, amazing livestock and lastly the incredibly hospitable participants and staff. I have never been to any event with people that are more helpful or welcoming than rodeo people. This was one of the reasons I decided to try to break into rodeo. I initially reached out to the owner/organizer of the Rising Stars Calf Roping events - Chris Neal. I explained what I was attempting to do shooting rodeo and that for now this wasn’t going to be a source of income but rather wanting to attend and shoot just to understand this area of photography and get some practice to see if it was really something I wanted to do. Chris said come on out and give it a try.
I arrived the morning of the first day I was shooting and decided the best thing to do was to introduce myself to the event photographer and give him an idea of what I was doing and that I wasn’t selling anything but rather learn the craft and get some practice in. He was a little hesitant but nice enough. As the weekend progressed we spoke numerous times and it was a great connection to make.
Day one I had my cheat sheet from talking to Frank and Kyle and I got everything set-up and the event started. 100% of what I shot that two days was the U19 Ladies Breakaway Roping event and to say it was fast and so far outside of what I have shot before is an understatement. Wow it was quick but truly exciting. I shot over 1,300 images that day. Amazing first day.. Went home and started culling through all those images and decided my first day was fantastic but there had to be a better way of doing things being that I was working for hours and hours sifting through tons of images. I had a lot of great shots but this wasn’t the best way to do it.
Day two arrived and I got to the event and set up and decided to focus more on a particular couple of locations for each roper and stopped on 2-3 per rider. At the end of the day I got much better shots and compared to Saturday’s 1,300 I got it down to about 400+ which was much more manageable. Lesson one.. more isnt better and quality over quantity.
Overall it was a great weekend of rodeo and now a true passion of mine..
Next up is the Cattlemen’s Congress (January 1-16) and then the IFR in Oklahoma City if the credentials actually happen. Fingers crossed.
JBP
