Friday Night at the Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek

Friday night and Cave Creek, especially the Buffalo Chip, is OPEN!   

It's time to enjoy some bull riding with hundreds of my closest unmasked friends.

Sadly, the "Chip" sold out of VIP tickets, but I hear that is common.   So a bunch of us sat in the bleachers.   Still saw some find action.   

The photo on the right:  a little cowboy pulling up his britches like the big cowboys.  

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Click the photo below to see all the images from the bull riding at the Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek, Arizona…

Bull Riding at the Buffalo Chip 10 March 2021

The Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek Arizona has opened up bull riding again but just on Wednesday nights.   It was a lovely night 10 March to enjoy bull riding and the company of others wanting a good time, too.   And I've found the best perch for me is the VIP section.

Of course, the sport of bull riding and all the participants and fans are patriotic, so it did not begin until the flag and national anthem were played, as it should be.

Although there were quite a number of riders, not one went the mandatory eight seconds.  

To the left is my favorite image of the night.  That will tell you how close we were to the action in the VIP section.  

Bull riding is a dangerous sport.  Although I think the cowboy hat looks nice, the helmet helps protect a rider's head better.

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Click the photo below to see all the images from the Buffalo Chip's Bull riding....

Bull Riding at the Buffalo Chip 6 June 2020

Cave Creek is a neat western town minutes north of Phoenix and Scottsdale.   I've always considered it an escape from the city.   But this #$%$ virus has shut so much down.   People were cooped up and wanted out.   

So the Buffalo Chip opened up their little arena on the 6th of June to feature bull riding.  We sat in the VIP section and it was perfect for photography.   I used a Canon EOS R and a Canon 24-240mm lens.   I think the longest reach I used was around 100mm, that's how close I was to the action.

They had four sessions of about eight cowboys a session.  

There were some amatuer riders and some darn good professional riders.  You could tell the difference.  And it made for great action to capture!

And between one of the sessions, they brought out the little cowboys and cowgirls in something called "mutton busting."

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Watch the entire slideshow below!

My New Canon 50mm Lens Shooting in a Club

Starting from Country Thunder, I’ve photographed Tom Wagner and his band several times.  Nothing new with that.

What IS new is that I photographed the boys with my new Canon f/1.4 50mm lens.  And just this lens.

If you are used to using a zoom lens, you typically don’t move closer or back.  With a 50mm prime lens, your feet are your zoom.  

It’s a new feeling and a great feeling.

My impression is I love the low light capabilities of this sharp lens.  I photographed from around 1600 to 2000 ISO, aperture priority, wide open at f/1.4.  If you like bokeh (the background out of focus), you will love this lens!

I highly recommend a prime like this for low light and club photography.  

One more thing...  I found another shot I took of Charlie on the fiddle.  I took this back in April at Country Thunder in Florence, Arizona. 

Until My Next Adventure,

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

Photos from Flickr ... and, here are all the keeper photos!

Tom Wagner at the Buffalo Chip on 27 May 2017

From the Cave Creek Balloon Festival, it was a short trek down the street for some country music.  This marks my third visit photographing Tom Wagner.  This time, it was at the Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek, where he has a regular gig.  

He’s a real personable guy and this photographer has to be ready because he often jumps off the stage into the crowd.

He’s a fan favorite there in Cave Creek, so I made sure I had some photographs of the lovers of his brand of country music.  That would include long time fan Dolly Kennedy.

One of the customers at “The Chip” asked me why I photographed him.  Easy.  I want to have photos before he gets the call up to Nashville!

This was a classic low light and horrible light situation.  I did not use flash for a reason: the band will HATE it!  I also on purpose used slower shutter speeds when I wanted to get a sense of motion in Tom.  

Until My Next Adventure,

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

Photos from Flickr ... and, here are all the keeper photos!

Tom Wagner at the Buffalo Chip

As a follow-up to meeting Tom at Country Thunder, he made the invitation to come to the Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek, Arizona to photograph him and his band.  

I used my Canon 5D Mark IV and chose the Canon 24-105mm f/4 II lens.  The right way to do a shoot like this is try to visit early and take some test shots, but I thought I was ok with this setup.  The only thing I would have done differently is probably also bring my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens too.  

The indoor lighting was great for dancing and watching a band.  But it was low light for photography.  I found I was shooting wide open f/4 at over 10,000 ISO.  I also had to change my white balance in Lightroom to tungsten, but that probably took a few seconds to do. 

Tom and his band mates were personable and fun, as they were at Country Thunder. That makes photographing them fun.  The Buffalo Chip is a great venue with incredibly friendly people like Dottie, the manager, and the waitresses busy serving up burgers and beer (all was delicious.. the burger seemed to go on forever and I loved it!).

Until My Next Adventure,

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

Photos from Flickr ... and, here are all the keeper photos!

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