Just for Fun No C&C will be given: Rodeo Houston 2009

[James Newman]

My wife and I spent the day and evening at the rodeo yesterday. We went to the livestock show, rode a few rides on the midway, ate a real chuckwagon steak dinner, then went inside Reliant Stadium for the rodeo. After each day's rodeo, they have a musical concert and yesterday the star was Keith Urban. He is one of our favorite singers. (Nicole Kidman's hubby)
The lighting in the big arena was another good test for me and my D3. I shot everything with my 70-200mm f/2.8 using the Auto ISO function. The shot of the saddlebronc rider here ended up at ISO of 1100, 1/250th sec. The Keith Urban shot was ISO 1600, 1/160th. I still need more practice, especially the action type shots. I had a little difficulty at times panning and staying on my subject and a larger percentage of shots than I would have preferred, were too blurred to be of much use other than web posting perhaps. It was still a very fine day and evening and worked wonders for me just to get out of the house and away from the usual worries if only for a little while.
James Newman

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

I joined you in the ranks of the unemployed a while back, but the extra time hasn´t made me more creative as it has with you. I am feeling good about the photo equipment we have to work with though.
Your bronc rider shot is pretty good, but the cowboy looks like he is about to make the transition from rider into flying object.

 

[James Newman]

I am sorry to hear your bad news about employment Clayton. Hopefully it will only be for a short while. I keep telling myself that anyway but the "while" keeps getting longer every week. I don't know that the time off has made me more creative but I appreciate the thought. Actually I think I do it in order not to go completely stir crazy.

Thank you for your comments. The bronc rider here actually did not get thrown off. He settled back in after that buck and went on to a completed 8 second ride. He qualified for Saturday finals with this ride.

Here is one more that I particularly liked. It is not the sharpest of focus, but I really enjoy the expression on the cowboy's face. This one, for anyone not familiar with rodeo, is a bareback rider. The first one was a saddle bronc rider. One obviously has a saddle that he sits on but he holds on to the horse with one hand by way of a long rope attached to a bridle. The bareback rider has no saddle, hence the name bareback, and he holds on, again with one hand, in a leather handle attached to the horse. It is called the rigging. This cowboy stayed on as well for the entire 8 seconds required in order to get a score. 8 seconds can seem like an eternity for these guys.
James Newman

 

[nicolas claris]

Hi James
really amazing! a different world to discover! thanks for showing and bravo for the shots, surely not easy to follow this guys with a long focal!
I'd like less DOF to focus the eye on the rider/horse only.
For me (as European, not used to see these) the crowd in bg and other horse rider on the court are a bit disturbing… just a thought…