Recently I was approached by the coaches of the MSU-Northern rodeo team to make some photos of their athletes so they could put together a calendar to sell this Christmas to raise funds for the team. And of course I agreed to help out.
We tried making a calendar back in 2011, but corralling them all was harder than we thought. And we started to late. Armed with that knowledge I think we did better this time. The girls are always more willing to assist on a project like this and are much more comfortable posing for the camera than the boys are. But once they see how they can be portrayed on the camera, even they chip in.
I have photographed some rodeos in the past, but this was much more of an attempt to make cowboy photos and cowgirl photos, with a dash of fashion thrown in.
The cost for members for the MSU-Northern rodeo team to compete are much more expensive than you may realize. Imagine having to haul your horse to different venues around the state. The cost of fuel alone, let alone the capital costs for a horse trailer, truck, tack, and gear all ads up. It's certainly not one of the more inexpensive sports in college for the athletes. So raising money to help defray the costs associated with competing is important. And hopefully the calendar will go a long way to help reduce the costs to compete and represent Havre and MSU-Northern university.
In this the latest edition of 20+ photos I am featuring just some of the photos of MSU-Northern team members I have photographed. Most are photographs of members of the team who are on this year's team, but some are shots made way back in 2011, too. And not every photograph that will appear in the calendar is seen here.
If you live in or near Havre and want to help the MSU-Northern rodeo team, please be on the lookout for their calendar and buy one. Or two. Or three. In fact I encourage you to buy this calendar before you buy my 2017 Montana calendar. The money you spend to buy that calendar will help a young man or woman compete in the collegiate rodeo circuit. And every Montanan can appreciate that.
