In early 2022 I was asked to do photography for the 76th annual Wimberley VFW Rodeo, one of the hardest small-town rodeos in Texas. This would essentially be 3 full nights of non-stop continuous shooting while also trying to turn out finished products that very night to help the VFW continue to generate interest while it was still happening. While I didn’t have the lenses typical of rodeo photography (long distance telephotos), I had something better: a press pass. So rather than hiding in the stands with the audience I was down with the riders dodging horses and the occasional wayward bull. This was easily one of the most challenging and most rewarding shoots of my life.
Check out the video!
The VFW shoot was a clear success for all involved, the VFW itself now has over 100 incredible photos for generating interest and publicity for future events, all of which help out the local veteran community as well.
Shooting a rodeo with a short-range lens is an interesting game, if you want a good close shot there’s only one way to do it: get closer. This meant hanging in, on, and around the pens and gates as the riders dash in and out all night. This also means taking fast shots while animals the size of a sedan scream past within inches of your body. It’s not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for someone who has never been around horses or bulls before, but the shots you get are unlike anything else.
Rodeos are fast paced events that cover a crazy amount of ground in the blink of an eye, which means: high shutter speeds, wide open apertures, and never blinking. For almost all of these shots I was shooting with a high-speed continuous shutter and eyeballing the framing of the photo. No matter what you have to keep shooting, even if you’re about to get hit, because fortune favors the bold.
