Rodeo Photography

20+ photos of the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale (2016)

A bucking bronc rider holds on for dear life as his horse bucks real good coming out of the gate at the 2016 Miles City Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City, Montana.

I haven't photographed a lot of rodeos. Two to be exact. I know that seems odd with all of the cowboy photography and cowgirl photography I do. I guess you can say I prefer to concentrate on the agricultural photos more so than sports and entertainment. So the 2016 Miles City Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City, Montana was the first time I could officially say, "This is not my first rodeo, you know." Although truth be told, it sure felt like my first rodeo.

"Why?" Because the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale is unlike anything else I have witnessed before.

Otherwise known as the "Cowboy Mardi Gras," the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale is the perfect way to kick off the summer season. It's one part party, one part rodeo, and one part insanity. There are so many people crammed into tiny little Miles City, Montana on that day (many of whom are beautiful cowgirls), the whole place feels like the most densely populated place in Montana for the weekend.

Talking to other rodeo photographers it is also one of the best events to make photographs, too. So I'm glad I chose this past weekend to make the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale an event I didn't want to miss on my photo calendar.

Below are the results...a gallery of 20+ photos from the 2016 Miles City Bucking Horse Sale. And after just one visit to this most amazing event, I pretty much guarantee I will be back again and again. That's for sure.

The tale of the one that got away

I call this one "the tale of the one that got away." Also known as, "my screw up."

I was photographing the rodeo Sunday night at the Blaine County Fair in Chinook, Montana, and like everybody else in attendance I was looking forward to the bull riding event. There's a reason why they make it the final event of the evening.

The sun had gone down and lighting was becoming very poor in the arena. Because the action was so far away (I was using a 400mm lens) there was no way I could use my flash. So I cranked up the ISO on my camera (6400) and hoped for the best. That's when disaster struck.

A poor bull rider had the unfortunate fate of drawing a particularly angry bull. Most of the bulls in the rodeo are angry enough, but this one wanted no part of the rider. And to show his dissatisfaction he dumped the rider and jumped nearly four or five feet in the air. I have never seen such a thing. A beast weighing nearly one ton suspended in mid-air. It would have been the perfect shot. Bull rider on the ground. Astonishment from the rest of the riders watching nearby. Men racing in to help the rider. And a massive 2,000 lbs. bull lurking high above him.

When you look at photo on the back of your camera (this is called 'chimping') you can't tell if it is perfectly focused. You can, however, tell when it is NOT in focus. And that was the case this past Sunday night. I knew immediately that I missed the shot. My shutter speed was far too slow for the conditions (1/100th of a second--should have been closer to 1/500th of a second) and I must have also moved my camera ever so slightly to make things worse. What a colossal failure. And before you say "just fix it in Photoshop," there's nothing that can be done to fix this kind of mess in Photoshop. The shot is a complete loss.

Oh well. Better luck next time.