Somehow I had never made it in to shoot the Redding Rodeo, but thanks to a little help from my friends, I got a credential for this year’s event. I knew I had very limited time in Redding because I needed to be back in the Bay Area to shoot the Rowell Ranch Rodeo over the weekend, so I arrived just in time for slack on Thursday, shot Thursday night’s performance and Friday’s slack and then raced home to get ready for the weekend.
As I was shooting roper Blair Burk I knew I had a good picture of him getting off his horse…
Tie-down roper Blair Burk of Durant, OK
…but I kept shooting as he clotheslined himself on his rope and ended up in the dirt:
Tie-down roper Blair Burk of Durant, OK
The comedy continued as Tyson Durfey knocked his own hat off with his rope coming out of the box. I’ve never seen anyone do this, least of all a multiple NFR qualifier.
Tie-down roper Tyson Durfey of Colbert, WA
Some by-the-book roping:
Tie-down roper Cameron Elston of Ramona, CA
Tie-down roper Clint Cooper of Decatur, TX
Tie-down roper Jack Vanderlans of Temecula, CA
The top-ranked steer wrestler in the world is Ethan Thouvenell from the rodeo hotbed of Napa, CA. Here he is doing his thing:
Steer wrestler Ethan Thouvenell of Napa, CA
Steer wrestler B.J. Campbell of Aguila, AZ
Steer wrestler Kyle Whitaker of Chambers, NE
Bo Anderson had a run to forget as he came off his horse ahead of his steer:
Steer wrestler Bo Anderson of Water Valley, AB
For night rodeos, the arena lighting is almost never good enough to make commercially viable pictures. They’re fine for media use, but most sponsors want daytime pictures for ads and promo use. When I shoot night rodeos, I make it a point to get there before the cowboys to get as many behind-the-chutes pictures as possible, taking advantage of the directional light and shadows as they get ready. Here’s Chase Erickson stretching with the sun peeking through the chutes:
Bareback rider Chase Erickson of Helena, MT
And Erickson again wrapping tape around his riding arm with the sun coming in from behind and bouncing off of the wall for some fill light:
Bareback rider Chase Erickson of Helena, MT
Bareback riders sure do use a lot of tape:
Bareback riders Jessy Davis of Power, MT and Joe Gunderson of Agar, SD
Luke Butterfield & Taos Muncy trade stories before their rides:
Saddle bronc riders Luke Butterfield of Ponoka, AB and Taos Muncy of Corona, NM
Jake Wright works on his saddle in the corner. Note his shadow on the plywood:
Saddle bronc rider Jake Wright of Milford, UT
As the bareback riding started, there was still a tiny bit of sunlight spilling over the grandstands, focused on the area just outside of the chutes. John Hollandsworth rode into the light and promptly got flipped into the air by Roan Alley:
Bareback rider John Hollandsworth of Chico, CA gets bucked off Roan Alley
Bareback rider John Hollandsworth of Chico, CA gets bucked off Roan Alley
Bareback rider John Hollandsworth of Chico, CA gets bucked off Roan Alley
Will Lowe caught the last rays on Bittersweet:
Bareback rider Will Lowe of Canyon, TX rides Bittersweet
You can see the difference as Luke Creasy rode next, the sun was not hitting the arena at all:
Bareback rider Luke Creasy of Brownfield, AB rides Spy
Bareback rider Jason Havens of Prineville, OR rides Devil's Dream
There wasn’t enough time to reposition for tie-down roping, so I made some tight pictures of the riders coming of of the box:
Tie-down roper Matt Shiozawa of Chubbuck, ID
Tie-down roper Clint Cooper of Decatur, TX
The light was really fading by the time the Budweiser Clydesdales were finished, and I was pushing the ISO for saddle bronc:
Saddle bronc rider Wade Sundell of Boxholm, IA rides Rhonda Blues
Saddle bronc rider Ryan MacKenzie of Jordan Valley, OR rides Holy Hopin Hell
Saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy of Corona, NM rides Prairie Fever
I didn’t stay for the rest of the events, but managed to catch my friend John Growney for a portrait at 400mm:
Stock contractor John Growney
An early clip:
Steer wrestler Chason Floyd of Ludlow, SD competes at the Redding Rodeo in Redding, CA. Clip from Sports Illustrated's Photos of the Day for May 17, 2012.