Cave Creek Rodeo

Yesterday, I went to the Cave Creek Rodeo with two members of our local photography club, Rick Policar and Bill McAdam. Our main purpose was to photograph the rodeo events. We met our expectations and more. It’s a small rodeo and a small venue, so we were able to position ourselves well to get some fine shots. This is sports action photography at its best. Both the cowboys and the livestock are great athletes and they put on a good show.

The first five photos are action shots of bareback and saddle bronc riders beginning with this “soon to be tossed” cowpoke who seems to be headed in a different direction than his steed.

Our next cowboy seems to have everything under control. What’s he saying? “Yee Haw!”

Displaying classic form, this saddle bronc pilot seems destined for a good ride. In order to score well, the horse must also perform well. You can’t win if your horse isn’t trying hard.

This guy looks a little shaky. Doesn’t look like his day will turn out well.

This ride ends well as the dismount crew arrives to pick up the cowboy shortly after the 8 seconds has expired. Beats landing on your face! The disappointed bronc is somewhere in the middle of all that horseflesh.

One of the best events is barrel racing. Cowgirls manoeuvre their horses around three barrels before sprinting for the finish. We had a very good vantage point and I was able to get several good shots.

This speedy calf soon came to an abrupt halt. He was then unceremoniously tossed onto his back and hog-tied. Bet he can’t wait to grow up, become a bull and inflict a little payback!

Another calf fails to elude the lasso.

And now for the big boys! The bulls and their riders. On this day, no more than one cowboy succeeded in staying on board for the 8 seconds. This is dangerous business. Note the hockey helmet and flak jacket the bull jockey is wearing. These bulls are big, 1,600 to 1,700 pounds (725-770 kilos), very strong, agile and mean. Not satisfied to fling the cowboy off, they’ll go after him once he’s ejected. That’s where the oddly-clad bullfighters come in. They’re paid to divert the bull, offering him the opportunity to stomp them, rather than the cowboy. I don’t see the appeal in either job.

We saw a lot of this. Short bull rides. Nice chaps, though.

The cowboy’s headed for a hard landing and the bull is sizing up who he’s going to maim next. Everyone was okay. Those bullfighters do a great job of protecting the cowboys. For a short time, the cowpokes are very vulnerable, even when they succeed in riding these beasts.

The remainder of today’s photos are displayed as a slideshow. It’s a sequence of shots showing a bull rider at work. The sequence spans a period of less than 3 seconds from the bull’s exit from the chute until the rider has hit the ground. He didn’t stay aboard for the requisite 8 seconds and as such failed to score any points. Despite appearances, he was not hurt and within another second or two he was hightailing it out of there. Press on the arrow in the the black band across the first image to start the slideshow. It will run on its own. Click on the pause icon on the lower right to stop the show.

I enjoy the rodeo and the photo opportunities are endless. A great afternoon.

Update: All photos were taken using a 70-200mm telephoto lens. Light was very good so I was able to get good shutter speed with an aperture setting of f8.0 and ISO 160. I used the aperture priority mode to control the depth of field, so the shutter speed varied a little but not not enough to matter. Shutter speed varied between 1/1000 and 1/2000 sec. I set the focus mode to AF Servo to enable the lens to lock in focus and follow the moving subjects well. Given the distance to the subjects, ~20-50 yards (18-45 metres), I had the focal length at maximum, 200 mm for most of the pictures.