Geelong Rodeo
Bronco Riding © Neil Anderson
Six members ventured to Geelong Racecourse on Saturday 8 February for the Geelong Rodeo.
The weather was coolish and plenty of cloud cover, which was good for nice diffused light for photography.
Gates opened at 3:00 pm and it was obvious Geelong Rodeo interest is going from strength to strength as when I arrived at 3:30 pm there was only two ring side seats left on the south side of the rodeo ring. (Last year the Friday night rodeo was a sellout, and this year there was sellout crowds on both Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening events.)
Cowkids barrel racing events were in progress at 3:30 pm and the last event finished at 9:40 pm with a dinner break before the main adults events at started 7:00 pm.
There were plenty of highlights: Bull Riding and Bronco Riding were exceptional.
Other events were a rider on a horse lassoing a steer as a time trial (the winner was 2.5 seconds). The difficulty is much higher when there are two riders and a steer is running between them; one of the riders has to lasso the steer around the neck and the other rider has to lasso one of the hind legs.
Steer wrestling take the degree of difficulty higher again as once again there are two riders with a steer running between them. Both riders try to keep the steer close between them as one of the riders launches from his horse to catch the steer and then wrestles it onto it back.
It was my third rodeo, and it would have to be the best. The first adult event at 7:00 pm was bull riding, and the rodeo ended with bareback bronco riding and bull riding. The skill of the participants and the fortunate fact that some riders have spectacular falls but rarely get injured is amazing. Also, the horses and bulls are especially bred by one company that has a reputation for breading the best rodeo quality livestock.
To put it mildly I was very happy with my images. Locking your camera focus on a bronco or bull rider when the gate is opened, a high shutter speed of at least 1/1600 th second, and some luck that the rider and the horse or bull is looking in your direction when the action is happening and if a rider gets thrown.
A rodeo can give definitely a number of photos that can be used for entry to competitions.
