No B.S. from this bull rider shoot

by aontiveroz on Jun.15, 2009, under Misc., Sports

LCCC bull rider Justin Thomas poses for a portrait on Happy Jack Road. Moments later he was struck by a Mack Truck, which subsequently exploded.

Recently, I hung out with and shot LCCC bull rider Justin Thomas on Happy Jack Road. The hanging out entailed making sure the speeding traffic did not strike him during the photo op. He was, however, grazed by a semi, but he’s a bull rider, so it exploded and he walked away unscathed.

In all, the shoot took upwards of an hour. Since I did not prepare for the shoot, we winged it, in addition to dealing with the afternoon flow of vehicles. For the most part, I wanted to capture the idea that Thomas is a lone cowboy far from his home in Maryland. This week, he will compete at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper as the only member of the LCCC team.

This photo is intended to show the solitude of being a lone wolf of sorts. Thomas was more than pleased to risk his safety for the shoot. In the end, I decided that shooting cowboys is the way to go. This kid was a work horse. I gave him the responsibility of setting up the lights since I mostly shot him with longer lenses from about 50 feet away. Whenever we had an opening to occupy the highway, he would place his light and stand on his mark without fail nor a complaint.

At times, I have to shoot portraits of people who cannot pose let alone take part in the placement of lighting equipment. Well done, sir, well done.