Caber Toss Triptych
Highland games at the 2012 Scottish Fair in Farmington, MN. This caber tosser made my Scottish ancestors proud. I could try to explain the fine art of caber tossing, but Wiki says it best:
“The caber toss is a traditional Scottish athletic event practised at the Scottish Highland Games involving the tossing of a large wooden pole called a caber. It is said to have developed from the need to toss logs across narrow chasms to cross them. In Scotland the caber is usually made from a Larch tree. A caber typically is 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) tall and weighs 175 pounds (79 kg).”
Grip
Bull-riding action from the 2011 Hamel Rodeo, Corcoran, MN. My, grandma, what big horns you have!
Home Stretch
Barrel racing is one of my very favorite rodeo events. The teamwork between rider and horse is incredible. This shot is full-frame, 70mm, f/22, 1/40th sec. Whenever I shoot for motion blur, I worry that I’m missing some great stop-action. But when the technique works, you really get that sense of speed. Worth the risk, I think.
Barrel-racing action from the 2011 Hamel Rodeo, Corcoran, MN. Thanks for visiting, friends!
Death Valley Mesquite Flat Dunes
Sand dunes at Mesquite Flat, Death Valley National Park, California. This is a really neat part of the park. Sand has been swirling around in this natural basin for centuries, piling up into neck-craning dunes that shift and change daily. As a photojournalist covering the park on a book assignment, my challenge was figuring out how to cover this well-known area and yet bring something fresh to the table. Ansel Adams’ b&w rendition is well-known, and many photographers like to get right out there in the sand and get low, wide-angle shots, which is fine. But that wasn’t my goal that day.
An approach I often take with landscape work is to simply stand at a nice vantage point and let the scenery soak in. I try to figure out why I’m reacting the way I am, then translate that into a two-dimensional image. It sounds odd, I know, but it works as a starting point for me. In this case, the thing that struck me most about the dunes were their sheer scale. How do you show scale? By putting a known object in the frame, in this instance the two hikers. (I observed them setting out earlier, despite the 110-degree temps, so I patiently waited until they entered the scene.) Putting humans in a landscape is anathema to some photographers, but I find it gives many shots interest as well as scale. It also reinforces a theme found in much of my landscape work, that people are a part of the natural world, not divorced from it. We affect the land as it affects us.
A telephoto lens also reinforced the vastness of the scene. It made the dunes and the Panamint Mountains in the background pile up like cars on an icy stretch of I35 in January. A cropping decision I made (in camera) was to clip the top of the Panamints, which in reality don’t rise much higher than the top of the frame. But the illusion you see in the photo makes it seem as if they rise to the heavens, reinforcing the vastness I felt as I stared at the scene.
The other feelings I had were dehydration and fatigue. But they were taken care of after the sunset, when I retreated to my hotel room. With a tall drink in my hand and the swamp cooler pumping air into the room, 90 degrees never felt so refreshing.
Slurpy
As if bull riding weren’t hazardous enough, the cowboy also must beware of steady streams of billowing snot.
Bull-riding action from the 2011 Sutton Rodeo, Northfield, MN.
War Stories
Two bareback riders exchange kudos after great rides during the 2011 Hamel Rodeo in Corcoran, MN.
The Dismount
Calf roping, also called tie-down roping, is a timed event. It requires precise teamwork between a rider and horse. The calf is given a head start, then the rider gives chase. After roping the calf, the rider dismounts, wrestles the calf to the ground, then ties three legs so the animal cannot get up, just like on working ranches.
I like the moment captured in this frame, that split second when the rider has dismounted, even before the calf comes to a halt. How do cowboys do this and not shatter their knees or ankles?
Calf roping action from the 2011 Hamel Rodeo, Corcoran, MN.
Grand Canyon Condors
I saw these beautiful condors sunning their wings while I was hiking down the Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. One of the world’s rarest birds, California condors have wing spans around 9 feet. I felt privileged indeed to spy them, and they even posed for me! The one on top had wing tags that read “7.” Must have been one that was reintroduced into the area.
Then some jackass leapt onto the rock and started whoop’n and a holler’n, and scared the condors away. Boy, was I pissed!
I’m pretty mild mannered by nature, but this guy got my dander up. He was walking down the trail as I was coming back up. As we passed, I stopped him and gave it to him both barrels. He said, in a kind of pathetic, dejected voice, “I’m sorry sir. It’s my job, sir.” Then I saw the official-looking patch on his jacket. He was with a conservation group that helps scare the condors away from the trails. Evidently, they nest more successfully without noisy tourists gawking about.
Take foot. Place in mouth. Slink away red-faced.
A few yards farther down the path, the poor guy got an earful from another group of hikers who’d witnessed the same incident. I walked away, shaking my head, as I heard him explain again why he had to scare the condors away.
Talk about a thankless job!
The Pickup Artist
The pickup man is the rodeo cowboy’s best friend. In the bareback and bronco riding events, when the eight-second ride is over, sometimes the horse just keeps on bucking, or heads in the wrong direction away from the exit. The pickup man swoops in, helping transfer the cowboy safely off the runaway horse. It’s a dangerous moment. Pickup men have great timing, experience, and guts.
Bareback riding action from the 2011 Hamel Rodeo, Corcoran, MN. Thanks for visiting, friends!
The Critics
Bareback riding action from the 2011 Hamel Rodeo, Corcoran, MN. It took all my willpower to keep the lens trained on those dudes in the background as the horse barreled toward me.
