Cave Creek Rodeo Finals 30 May 2021

Finally!  After over a year without fans, the Cave Creek Rodeo in Arizona opened to fans.  The stands were FULL and not a mask or muzzle in sight. 

I was in the Stockman's Club and took my perch high up in the last row.   I captured images with a Canon EOS R6 and a Tamron 100-400.   I rarely needed anything beyond 200mm so I could have used the Tamron 70-200mm.

The Servi Brothers of Colorado again supplied the stock.   They were very lively rodeo stock, too.   

The Cave Creek Rodeo featured seven events.  Steer wrestling, bareback riding, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie down roping, the ladies of barrel racing, and the popular bull riding.   

One of the interesting contestants came in the saddle bronc riding event.  Nathan Urie of Ferron, Utah was born with only a right arm!   He didn't make the eight second mark, but stayed on for a good six seconds.

Final standings for the Cave Creek Rodeo are HERE.

Post processing in Lightroom.  Sometimes in Luminar ai.   My new pre-processing takes my raw files into Adobe Camera Raw and then use the new "enhance" feature.   This cleans up any noise and also dramatically increases the size of the image so I can crop with confidence.   Then I take those new enhanced raw dng files into DxO's new PureRaw for final clean up.  

My settings for a night rodeo were shutter speed of 1/800, wide open aperture, auto white balance, and auto ISO.  I was impressed with the auto white balance.  I did not need to change white balance in Lightroom.   

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Click the photo below for all of my Cave Creek Rodeo images!

AND, my narrated video on YouTube!  

*** Have you tried Luminar ai yet?   It's what I use.  Click HERE to find out more!

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Cave Creek Rodeo 24 March 2019

The Cave Creek Rodeo in Arizona has to be the best small PRCA sanctioned rodeo in North America.  I've photographed this rodeo for about ten or more straight years and it is an absolute joy.  The best group of folks around.  

Images were made with a Canon EOS R and Canon 70-200mm lens.  Post processing in Lightroom and Photolemur.

Usually bull riding comes last.  This time around for this finals event they started with bull riding, part one, and ended with bull riding part two.  Kind of an interesting way to do it.  There's a lot of tradition involved in rodeo and I have to think people like things the way it's always been done, but this worked out well.  

The bulls were especially nasty today as I don't remember more than one cowboy sticking around past eight seconds. Somebody did.  The all-around cowboy was JC Mortensen, winning $1,858 for bareback riding and bull riding. 

The featured event is always bull riding.  But before that the ladies of rodeo perform at barrel racing.  And what a show they put on!  








Here's a complete list of Cave Creek Rodeo winners.  And great professional stock was again supplied by the Cervi Brothers.  

And the Cave Creek Rodeo ends with the horse stock running around the arena.  

I've also posted the Sunday finals photos on Flickr and on my portfolio site on SmugMug.

See ya soon!!!

Until My Next Adventure,

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

... And here's a slideshow from the Cave Creek Rodeo!

Cave Creek Rodeo Sunday 25 March 2018

 One of the finest small PRCA sanctioned rodeos in North America is the Cave Creek Rodeo in Arizona.  I was again there taking photos, this time from the Stockman's Club.

This rodeo might be the most fan friendly and camera friendly rodeo in all of North America.  Sadly, so many of the rodeos and other events as well are limiting "professional" cameras, or cameras that have detachable lenses.  I think they want to stop people from bringing in oversized 150-160mm lenses that looks more like weapons.  I still don't like it.  And the other trend is to require clear plastic bags.  I have no idea how much longer the Cave Creek Rodeo will be so fan and photographer friendly, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. 

Rodeos have bareback riding, roping, clowns, barrel racing, and of course the headliner is always bull riding.  Eight seconds of hell, if a cowboy lasts that long.  My second favorite event is the ladies barrel racing. 

Until My Next Adventure,

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

… and all the photos!

Cave Creek Rodeo 2 April 2017

I photographed the Cave Creek Rodeo finals on Sunday 2 April.  This made it seven years in a row I photographed this wonderful PRCA Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association sanctioned event. 

The Cervi people provided the four legged stock athletes (animals).   The two legged cowboy and cowgirl athletes were the other half of the event.

I really respect this sport and the athletes.  It’s dangerous and these folks have to do well in these events to make a living.  If a cowboy or cowgirl gets a penalty or no score, they are out and must go to the next rodeo for another try.

Country artist super star Garth Brooks put it best in his hit “Rodeo” about how really hard this sport and life are!  Part of the lyrics goes like this,

Well it’s bulls and blood
It’s dust and mud
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd
It's the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He'll win the next go 'round

Take a good look at how these cowboys and cowgirls “bring it” in the finals.  By the way, rodeo clown Justin “Rumpshaker” Rumford was funny too!

Until My Next Adventure, 

(Country Thunder) 

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

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

Cave Creek Rodeo Finals 30 March 2014

Team Roping, Background Out of Focus with Focus2Pro

This is one of the finest smaller pro rodeos around.  It’s in Cave Creek, just a few miles north of Phoenix, in a very compact arena.  I’ve photographed this event before, and I thought I’d try another vantage point.  This time, I went to the very last row center stage.

Barrel Racing

I shoot primarily with a Canon 5d Mark III.  I mistakenly brought the Canon 70-200mm lens.  I was disappointed at first because I thought I needed more reach.  Yes, many of the photos I ended up with are cropped, but I’m still pleased at the output. 

Black and White with Silver Efex Pro

I used Tv priority, or shutter priority, setting the camera at 1/1000^th of second to capture action without blurring.  It was a sunny day, so I used ISO 100 and a sunny white balance, although since I shoot in raw I could change white balance in post processing.  I didn’t need to, though.

HDR Toning with HDR Efex Pro

I use primarily Adobe Lightroom in post processing.  I did use some plugins for the black and white photo, using Silver Efex Pro.  I like the look and feel of the black and white conversion; it reminded me of an old Lone Ranger scene.  I also used an output filter for HDR toning called HDR Efex Pro.  And I used MacPhuns’ Focus2Pro to put focus on selected areas of a photo. 

Rider Thrown from the Bucking Bronco!

My salute to all the cowboys and cowgirls of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association) and the people of the Cave Creek Pro Rodeo.  This is a dangerous and very hard business.  These folks go from rodeo to rodeo chasing wins.  All it takes is one mistake and they get nothing and have to move on.  Some people in Europe think they can insult Americans by calling them “cowboys.”  I always answered I WISH I WERE A COWBOY! 

Bull Riding, With Help from Focus2Pro

From Color to Black and White back to Selective Color

See ya on down the road!

Jim Patterson

Here are all my photos of the rodeo from Flickr….

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