2019 was the last time I went to a rodeo as a professional rodeo photographer. It was the year I retired and made the decision to transition my career from rodeo to a focus on equine and portraiture.
I loved the rodeo, I loved the challenge, the ever changing action and that no two photographs were ever the same. But the constant travel, being on the road, and running my business from the road was exhausting. I took more loss than I made in profits and experienced a lot of theft of rodeo images by competitors.
So much went into my decision to step back from being a rodeo photographer and doing a thing I love. To the point where four years later I haven’t been to a single rodeo because I struggle to attend and watch events I use to live to photograph. The act of being there and not photographing would kill my soul so I just stopped attending.
Yet, I miss rodeo, I miss the challenge of the images and catching action as it runs at you.
For this throwback image from my rodeo days I want to share a team roping image that is one of my favorite team shots.
