A tough life

I know that this is going to sound kind of cliched but I have to take my hat off to the guys and girls who have chosen rodeo as their sport. Some events are as extreme as they come! I have been to many rodeos over the years and have seen some amazing rides and thankfully only a relatively few injuries.

On 6 March I went to the 2010 Queanbeyan Rodeo, held at the Queanbeyan Showground, NSW Australia. The rodeo starts at around 4:00pm in the afternoon and then goes on until about 9:00pm at night. They wheel in a number of large industrial lighting plants to light the action. Unfortunately whilst it is ok for the viewing public for photographers it is dreadful. So once the sun had gone down I put the camera down and just watched the spectacle. Below are a number of the better shots I took. You can see them full size at flicker DiMAGE photography .

Joel worked hard to win this one. The cool thing about the light when I was taking these pictures was that it was down low in the sky coming from behind me. A beautiful golden colour and with the reflection back from the yellow shute gates you couldn't ask for better!

One of the things about an extreme sport like bull riding is that you don't always get the luxury of getting off the way you would want as Luke found out.


My favourite shot of the day was this one. Sam Hill did an amazing job of wrestling his steer. Not enough to win the event but a great time all the same. Love the way his horse has it's ears pinned back!