Rodeo, version 1.5
This series came about while working on the fair midway images, the Cumberland Fair brings in the Rawhide Rodeo, two shows a day...horses, barrels, calves, bulls, cowboys and cowgirls....its all there. Update: Sept 2016 This year the Rawhide Rodeo Company returned to Maine in a slightly different context. I took the time to contact them in advance and spent most of the day watching the show setup, the competitors sign-in and preparation. It was a great opportunity to talk to the show owners and ask lots of questions of long time rodeo performers like 'Texas' Jack Fulbright. In terms specific to the story, I was amazed at how young some of the performers are...the best ride of the day, I thought, was turned in by a wiry 15 year old. His first ride was short, it ended poorly and he was the image of dejection outside the fence. There were also reminders that, as Texas Jack told me, the bulls don't follow the script, at least one competitor was taken to the ambulance after a painful spell in the arena sand. In larger terms I think I learned lessons about finding and seeing the story...for all the big action and ranges of language and symbol, the story revolves around the people. When I started to look for them the rest parts fell in and make sense. There are a few images that made that for me and they may not even be the best images, the one of the little Brazilian kid peering in from on top of the fence. That kid, maybe 10 years old, is looking to be the next wiry 15 year old, already positive that he can bend the random anger of a several thousand pound bull to his will.