Pro Rodeo Canada Insider Oct/Nov 2020

RODEO PHOTOGRAPHERS

ONE SHOT AT A TIME

By TIM ELLIS

How To Go Pro:

New shooters are strongly encouraged to hone their craft by shooting at amateur rodeos for a full season. The new shooter contacts the CPRA and is vetted by a senior carded photographer. They must present their portfolio of unedited photos to the senior CPRA photographer. The new shooter must pass an arena review to prove they can safely operate in an arena. The CPRA makes the final decision on arena access granted to photographers.

A spectacular action photo of Quentin Taylor and his picture-perfect turned-out boot on Calgary’s A-34 Armitta Rocket in the novice bronc riding at 2019 Innisfail Rodeo

Photo by Billie-Jean Duff RoughstockStudio.ca

VERSATILITY, PASSION, AGILITY, PERSEVERANCE, INGENUITY AND TIMING — THESE AREALL NECESSARY ATTRIBUTES FORA RODEO PHOTOGRAPHER. IT WAS THOSE ELEMENTS THAT HELPED MIKE COPEMAN REACH THE PINNACLE OF SUCCESS DURING HIS 28-YEAR CAREER.

“I was bouncing off the walls,” remembers Copeman of a call from Clay Gaillard of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1998. “He said, ‘It’s just preliminary, but would you be interested in serving as our arena photographer at the NFR?’”

“Two weeks later, he called again to say I had the job. He said, ‘We’re thinking we can pay you this much or that much.’ I said, ‘I’ll take that much, being the much higher number,’ and that was our negotiation.’”

It was the start of a 17-year run of shooting at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Add in two decades inside the arena capturing the action at the Canadian Finals Rodeo, 17 years at the Calgary Stampede and countless gigs at various amateur association finals, and you have an impressive resume.

“My first time taking pictures at a rodeo was in 1989 at the St. Albert Rainmaker,” recalls Copeman, who took up photography as a hobby three years earlier. “When I looked at my pictures after, I thought I had bit off more than I could chew. I didn’t have any timing; I was terrible.”

“But I got the bug. Sales were still terrible, but I kept going to rodeos and working at my regular job. At about my third rodeo, I learned how to climb the fence and stay out of the way.”

Sun flare at the Airdrie Pro Rodeo during the tiedown portion of the evening’s events in 2016

Photo by Covy Moore CovyMooreca

That leads into this piece of advice for any fledgling rodeo photographer.

“Climb early and climb often,” suggests Copeman. “You should be invisible in the arena. Just keep doing your job and enjoy what you’re doing.”

“Don’t just jump into it; learn all about the sport. Work your regular job until you’re making the same amount at both. You need to want it so bad, you’ll do anything. That’s how you get good.”

It was about 13 years after first picking up a camera that Billie-Jean Duff quit her regular job to make the leap to full-time photographer.

“It’s not easy,” affirms Duff of making a living with rodeo photography. “You never know if you’re going to make enough on a weekend to pay your gas bill or hotel room.”

“You’re selling on spec. You need to sell X amount of pictures to X amount of contestants each weekend to make a viable income. Plus, you’ve got your expenses like fuel, insurance and equipment maintenance and upgrades — which are inevitable.”

Unlike Copeman and Duff, the journey to full-time rodeo photography didn’t begin as a hobby for Covy Moore. He graduated from photo-journalism school, worked in the newspaper industry for several years and had a stint shooting for U.S.-based motorsport.com.

“I tried to apply the marketing aspect of what I was doing with auto racing and newspapers to rodeo,” says Moore. “Those moments outside the rodeo arena are just as marketable for the sport.”

“I’ve always had the attitude that I’m working for the sport first and myself second. The better the sport does, the better I’ll do down the road. It can create a new earning structure outside of just selling to the athletes themselves. Do the sport justice, be in it for the sport.”

While shooting up to 1,000 frames during a rodeo performance, a photographer’s work isn’t finished when the action is done.

“For instance, I’ve been shooting at junior rodeos this summer,” begins Duff. “After the performance, I’ll spend another 5–6 hours editing the pictures.”

Steer wrestler Trigger Roy, 2006 Alberta High School Rodeo Finals

Photo by Mike Copeman MikeCopeman.com

And lastly, be prepared to take your lumps — literally.

“I’ve been clipped by several horses,” confirms Copeman. “Yes, they’re heavy, and yes it hurts.”

“I got run over at the CFR one year. It was more embarrassing than anything, although the horse did step on me in a bunch of different places — even had a perfect horseshoe on my butt. I went left instead of right and all of a sudden, I’m on the ground. I take a step, get hit, take a step, get hit, bang, bang, bang. I’m holding my camera trying not to get killed, and finally, it ended.”

Jayne Thurston celebrates a quiet moment with husband and World Champion Saddle Bronc rider Zeke after claiming his first PRCA World Championship in 2016 at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Photo By Covy Moore. CovyMoore.ca