I’m lucky to have a bunch of rodeos within driving distance, but luckier still to have a great rodeo like Livermore just 30 minutes away. Shooting rodeo and being able to sleep in my own bed is hard to beat.

2012 Livermore Rodeo Stagecoach

This year I remembered to get down there for slack on Friday to shoot in the early morning light.

Steer wrestler Timothy Hayes of Dunnigan, CA

Barrel racer Charlene Jespersen of Hanford, CA

Just a week after breaking his foot chasing some runaway steer on the streets of Red Bluff, John Growney was back to form:

Stock contractor John Growney and bull rider Steve Woolsey relax before the rodeo.

Growney Brothers Rodeo Company & friends

I had been thinking about how to make a unique portrait of John for a while, and it hit me after the group shot while I still had a wide lens on:

John Growney

Behind the bucking chutes, I made this picture of Matt Bright’s new tattoo. Fellow bareback rider Teddy Athan joked that the picture would have been better if the tattoo had actually been on the muscle…

Bareback rider Matt Bright of Azle, TX shows off his NFR back-number tattoo.

Bareback rider Matt Bright of Azle, TX rides Roan Alley

Bareback rider Bobby Mote of Culver, OR rides Wild & Blue for 90 points and a share of first place.

Bareback rider Ryan Gray of Cheney, WA rides Bittersweet for 86 points and a share of fourth place.

Billy Bugenig took fifth place with this run:

Steer wrestler Billy Bugenig of Ferndale, CA

As usual, the Wild Cow Milking was…wild:

Kyle Davilla of Livermore, CA competes in the wild cow milking.

I’ve been perfecting my Fisheye/Monopod Technique for the last year, and now I have a good picture of myself using it:

Here’s a good picture showing my fisheye/monopod technique behind the bucking chutes by Billy Mancebo.

This is what my camera saw at the moment the picture above was taken:

Saddle bronc rider Bradley Harter of Weatherford, TX rides Templeton

And here’s what happens when the horse decides to take off a little too close to the camera for comfort:

Saddle bronc rider Tyrell Smith of Great Falls, MT rides Riddle Me This

I’m so incredibly bored of frozen barrel racing pictures. Guys who shoot rodeo camp out at one barrel and make the same picture run after run. I put a neutral density filter on and dropped down to 1/30th or so and made pictures:

Barrel racer Gina Graham of Lockeford, CA

Thanks to a later starting time this year, by the time the bull riding started the sun was coming in pretty low which made for some crisp light:

Bull rider Colin McTaggart of Las Vegas, NV rides Crystal Gun

Bull rider Friday Wright II of Moss Point, MS rides Smokin Aces

Bull rider Josh Daries of Salinas, CA rides Heaven Scent

Bull rider Ty Hamaker of Centennial, WY gets bucked off Crystal Pistol

Thanks to my friend Phil Doyle and the Livermore committee for letting me do my thing.