13 comments

JerseyStyle Photography

Great portrait, Brian. The body language, the expressions, the hats, the boots. My instincts somewhat would make me remove the people in the upper left of the frame. May make the image stronger to feature just the four young men. Either way, I like it. ~ Mark

Thanks Mark. That means a lot to me. I agree that the people in the upper left distract a bit. I would like to get them out but that would require cropping that would overly affect the picture, or other digital manipulations I have no time for. So…this is it for now.

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting.
~Brian

I personally find it difficult to make a good photograph once people are aware of me, become self-conscious and want to “pose”. But as Mark has said this is a wonderful portrait with all the colour and expressions of that awareness. Love it!

Thanks Sabrina! Glad you like it. Yes, I agree, it is difficult to take a natural picture when the subject knows I am doing it. There was just no way to avoid it in this case. I actually asked them if I could do it. So I am really happy with the natural look and feel of this image. I might have to do it again/more.

Flemming Bo Jensen

This was one awesome night, I really must go to another rodeo soon (and preferably be a bit less tired). Thanks for taking us Brian. Mental note: must buy white hat and pink shirt.

This works well because even though they are aware of you of course, they don’t really know what to do with themselves. So it is natural looks of ‘oh man he’s pointing a camera at me!’

Brian Miller

Thanks Flemming!! That sure was an evening to remember! Have you bought your white hat or pink shirt yet? 😉

Flemming, we have rodeos in Canada! We have one here in a Vancouver suburb(used to be farmland) but the big one is in Calgary every year. 🙂

Flemming Bo Jensen

I’ll add to my list 🙂 Bit far from New Mexico though, even though I do ride a Dodge Avenger these days!

Brian Miller

Chris, we had competitors down here from Canada as well. Met a guy from near Calgary. Said he couldn’t stop. Had been riding rough stock for 29 years!! Would love to see the Stampede one year. My brother took his family this year and loved it!

[…] Love this slice of Americana from Brian Miller. […]

Looking at this makes me NM-sick – what a great portrait of these boys. Thanks so much for bringing us to the IIFR. It was an awesome first time at a rodeo, brought back the horse-craziness I spent most of my youth wishing I could indulge.

PS, I noticed that Justin Granger won the bullriding, not War Pony: http://www.iifrodeo.com/

Brian Miller

That was a fun evening. I think I had as much fun watching you and Flemming as I did watching the rodeo. You must come back for it again! 🙂

Looks like War Pony didn’t hold on for the whole weekend. These are final scores for the 3 days. Looks like Tsosie won bareback, though. He sure is pretty amazing!!