My Road to Rodeo Photography
A lot of people may not know this about me, but from a very young age, I grew up riding horses and going to rodeos.
It was the 1980’s and like many kids, I wanted to be a cowboy. My brother and I, we’d watch the Mesquite Championship Rodeo on TNN, The Nashville Network on saturdays. While some cowboys wear wranglers and stetsons, our clothes choices were a little different on saturday mornings. Underwear or pjs and cowboy boots were the official attire for the performances back then in the living room.
There were real horses too. I had two different horses as a kid. First was Tony. Unfortunately he coliced while we were gone one day and we came back to find him it was to late. Then I got scooter. If I knew then what I know now, I’d have paid more attention to that horse. He was a good one. My parents and family friends, David and Mary Beth Frisby were always involved with horses. But as a kid, I didn’t understand how good a horse that one was or how lucky I was to have it.
My brother even got in on a little action on the our friends Richard and Elizabeths pony bullet. That little booger was something. The pony was too.
Our family had a couple cows and goats and stuff at times but never any real cattle business or anything. Still, I spent many Friday/Saturday nights at sale barns with my dad and friends. Warren, Arkansas or Lewisville, Arkansas were our normal spots that I remember. I liked Lewisville the best. Any excuse to get a Burges smoked turkey sandwich is a good one no mater what. Seriously though, the Lewisville sale barn tack sale was always one of my favorite parts. They had ropes for sale and bull whips, and hot shots. What kid doesn’t want their own hot shot? Dad never let me have my own though, My brother is lucky to have had such a good dad. Saved the boys life.
As we got older, we trail rode and dabbled in a few play days and some team penning. Our priorities changed over the years though as we got more into sports and hunting and other hobbies. My family couldn’t afford to do it all. Eventually, Dad sold off our horses and saddles and we were no longer cowboys.
The appreciation for the sport of rodeo and the lifestyle never really left though. I’ve always loved horses and have great respect for the ranchers and farmers that work hard to put meat on America’s tables.
Photography History
Photography has been a hobby of mine for a while. If I look back, its been an interest since I was a kid also. I remember my mom’s camera and getting film developed. For those of you under 20, yes everything wasn’t always instant.
At 8-9 years old, I took my only photography class one summer at South Ark Community College during a kids camp they held. I don’t remember much else from the class but we shot black and white film and walked around taking pictures one day. Later the teacher developed the film and we got to see what we had done. unfortunately I had accidentally opened my camera exposing the film to sunlight and inadvertently ruining almost all of my photos I’d taken. After this misfortunate event, i kinda lost interest at that time.
In Junior High/High school I played a little basketball but was never a serious competitor. I did however spend some time filming games and running the sound and music during games. It wasn’t until after college though that my interest in photography began to further develop into a hobby of filming and photographing hunts.
Around 2006 I got my first real camera. It was a cannon rebel. I began taking pictures of mountain bike races after my short one race career as a mountain biker. I had entered one race and crashed with a severely dislocated shoulder that required surgery to put it all back together correctly. Some family friends were still racing so I got a camera and started shooting races and hunting/fishing trips as well as some landscape stuff.
I was back in the “rodeo” world.
Photography and the outdoors, Shooting, Hunting, and Fishing industries has been my main focus for several years now. What started as a hobby became a full time job as I started Riverbank Products to help design better products and promote outdoor companies.
A couple of years ago, I began shooting barrel races. The woman I was dating at the time and her daughter barrel raced and I thought barrel racing photos would be a cool thing for us to do together as a couple. That’s the primary reason I started shooting cans other than plinking tin cans with a 22. One thing leads to another though and I got pretty decent at shooting barrel racing. Like shooting sporting clays, it’s all about timing, and I love nailing a shot as much as I do dusting a clay target. Before I knew it, I was back in the “rodeo” world.
I don’t claim to be the best ranch hand that ever lived. Or an expert rider, roper or anything else. I’m far from it, but I think there is a little bit of cowboy in a lot of us. It gets in your blood. The sense of adventure and hard work is at the core of the cowboy way. Grit and determination lead the way through the adversity we face as the faith the Lord gives us and everlasting hope to keep on going.
Current Rodeo Photography
I was honored to have been selected to shoot the LRCA Finals Rodeo last fall at the Louisiana State Fair. There were other photographers in the running to shoot the event to have even been in the running was an honor. That was the largest rodeo I’ve shot to date and it was a blast. While shooting this rodeo, I had the opportunity to meet several people who encouraged me to look into PRCA rodeo photography.
I’ve since done that and I reached out to PRCA Photographer Robby Freeman. Robby invited me to come shoot the Stampede at the Ike rodeo with him in West Monroe, LA. It was a lot of fun shooting with Robby. You can view his photos from the rodeo on his website at www.twitedf.com. My photos from the same event can be found in my gallery below
Robby and I have different backgrounds and a different eye. His timing especially of rough stock is much better than mine and its’ something I’m working on. Robby is a very professional photographer with years of experience in the PRCA world and a fun guy to work with.
In an interesting twist, he used to referee my high school basketball games about the time I was getting out of horses. Its funny how God works things out and brings things together in a circle. I left horse stuff 20+ years ago for sports and other stuff. Robby was involved in the same sports I was involved with. He now has 15+ years of rodeo photography experience and now we’re both in rodeo photography.
I’m eager to shoot more barrel races later this month and looking to shoot some more rodeos.
The process of becoming a PRCA Photographer is quite involved. Just being honest, I don’t know if I’m ready for that. From an artistry in photography standpoint I can hang with most. There are some technical timing details in a few key areas of rodeo Photography that I personally feel like I need to improve before going all the way to PRCA. That’s also the thing that I like. I’m enjoying the process of learning rodeo photography. The action is fun. The sense of danger of getting run over by a bull is fun. I’m not 20 years old anymore so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to get in the arena but its defiantly something I’m enjoying right now.
I am actively seeking additional rodeos to shoot through the LRCA and other rodeo circuits. Would love to shoot some more events. My photos from the Stampede at the Ike are below. If I can help you in anyway, Contact us.