8 Seconds in the West

Rodeo is centered all around time, both the long (generational) and the short (the ephemeral performance). In this project I sought to capture both the decades long cyclical nature of the sport and the fleeting violent beauty in the seconds.

8 seconds.

8 seconds is all you have. It's do or die. You could die. 

This is rodeo. In the arena strapped to animals that could crush you instantly, everything revolves around time. But more than 8 seconds, Rodeo is a record of generational time. Fathers and Mothers strap their children on sheep like their parents did before them. Thus this photo project seeks two goals: to capture the “Ephemeral Performance” and the Generational one. 

The “Ephemeral Performance”, 

Time is ever fleeting in Rodeo. The average bull rider's career is two years. These actors have seconds, not hours, and two-ton beasts as scene partners. Yes, rodeo is violent, and the chances of injury and death are higher than in most sports. However, rodeo is also about beauty and the ultimate connection between man and animal. This performance is centered on mixing these ideas; the violence elevates the fleeting beauty. My photos, in their stillness, allow this transition. The lines of the bronco, his hoofs impossibly outstretched, the cowboy's body mirroring that of his mount. In that way, the “Ephermeral Performance” is meant to be viewed like this. 

The Generation Performance

The generational quality of Rodeo is unique. The sport is incredibly insular, and not many people who weren’t raised in the sport and its culture join it. The children and the animals they ride are explicitly raised for rodeo. Each Horse and Bull have been bred specifically for this, and their efforts are judged as hard as the cowboys and cowgirls. Where my other photos capture the short to make it long, this half of the show attempts to show the long and make it short, gathering snapshots of a new generation being initiated.