Filming, eBay and Rodeos

June 4th: Day Three

Day 3 saw myself and Caleb reshooting the XT-1 video. This time with a shoot list, a more solid idea and drawings I had made the night before. The footage looks rad. It's on the editing table/cutting room floor or whatever other analogy you'd like to use.

June 5th: Day Four

Zack currently has a buttload of things up on eBay for sale and my Thursday was pretty much filled with shooting said things for sale. So if you're looking at picking up some gear; from light meters to old flashes and lenses I suggest you hurry coz the auction ends Sunday June 15th.

I received praise for my great photos of the gear coz apparently eBay has very low standards for what counts as good photography ;)

June 6th: Day 5

Zack has this friend, Wes Quarles who has been documenting small town rodeos for the past four years. The thing that's kinda crazy about it is, the fact that there are kids who are like 15 or 16 riding on, I dunno, 1000 or 2000 pound bulls. That's terrifying!

So on Friday night we headed to the Shady Dale Rodeo. It was obviously my first time at a rodeo and I was pleasantly surprised when Meg told me it was her first time too. So Zack and I grabbed the two Panasonic GH4's coz he's been wanting to follow Wes around and document him documenting the rodeo :) So we hopped in the car and headed south or somewhere. (Gimme a break, I dunno the place. People sounded southern, so in my mind we headed south) ;)

Americans really like America

Americans really like America

Miss America! She's like a female Captain America or something ;P

Miss America! She's like a female Captain America or something ;P

It was a whole different world just 50 miles away, which just goes to show, you don't need to drive or fly 1000's of miles to experience something new or different. It could be right in your "backyard" so to speak.

Little Cowgirl

Little Cowgirl

My favorite shot of the day. Shot it during the prayer.

My favorite shot of the day. Shot it during the prayer.

Wes shoots all this on film. He uses a Leica M3 and a Hasselblad 500C. He also carries a Fuji X100s. His work is so rad, judging by what I've seen on his Instagram feed. Zack shot a pretty sweet portrait of him a little while ago on DEDPXL.

It's nuts seeing teenagers riding bulls and bucking broncos and I have no idea how their bodies hold up to such abuse or if they even do. I can't imagine that you have a very long career doing this.

Nonetheless I had a good time and the folks were really nice. No one hassled 3 random dudes walking around with video and camera gear.

Thanks for reading