Two of my favorite things to shoot are fast-moving action and humor. The Cracker Day Rodeo quenched my thirst for both.
Being from Indiana I’m used to fairs and animal events but I have to admit I never covered a rodeo until I came to Vero News. The fastest subject I’ve ever photographed were the Blue Angels. That was a bit easier than the rodeo because for the most part, until they snuck up on us, it’s pretty predictable.
In sports photography, the trend is to shoot at a low depth of field to reduce distracting backgrounds. I never did like that saying, “f/8 and be there.”
With that being said, unless you focus quickly or your autofocus doesn’t depressingly mess you over, it’s sometimes on the difficult side if you’re not used to shooting action.
Regardless, you can’t get better unless you go out and continue to shoot. In this digital age you don’t have much to lose, if you don’t like the photos just delete them and try again. Just don’t spend time in the field editing, save that for when you have time at home, or in my case, when I get back to my car.
For humor I don’t think I’ve seen much that is funnier than “mutton bust’n.” If you’ve never heard of it you’re not alone, it’s a first for me. It’s when you put a kid on the back of a sheep and then they open the gate like they do in bull riding. The girls this time, did much better than the boys.
Here are the photos/video I came away with from the Cracker Day Rodeo. The audio wasn’t the greatest because I was standing too close to the speaker but if you were there you’ll know that there weren’t a whole lot of vantage points.
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