Portraits of rodeo cowboys, some of the frustrations I've had with this project.

Rob Skeoch · Oct 29, 2022

I've been working through a portrait project on rodeo cowboys. At each event I set up a mini studio and try and photograph as many of the cowboys as I can. I'm learning a lot... mostly from the onslaught of mistakes I'm making. I've done a quick video, (now part 3) of the series on cowboys showing the weeks mistakes, frustrations and lessons. I've switched to Ilford HP5+ 120 film and continue to work with my Rollei. I hope you find it interesting.

Alex Benjamin · Oct 29, 2022

Very interesting. There may be mistakes, and lessons learned, but the measure of your success is how comfortable and natural they look in front of the lens—the hardest part in portrait photography, in my opinion. Photos does say something about them and how they feel about what they've just done. Establishing a rapport with each of them in such a short time is quite a feat.

Great work!

BrianShaw · Oct 29, 2022

Excellent… and some good lessons learned (and shared) also!

With waist-level viewers I use an umbrella in rain and snow to protect the gear. Putting the gear away might really be best but there are also ways to keep shooting.

rorye · Oct 29, 2022

Thanks for the video Rob, I enjoyed it.

MattKing · Oct 29, 2022

I too enjoyed the video Rob. And the photos that didn't have problems are great!
One observation though - cowboy hats lead to hidden or nearly hidden eyes when your front lighting is from an open or overcast sky! Was that your intention?

Daniela · Oct 30, 2022

What a beautiful project and the portraits are fantastic!
Thanks for sharing the process, with its successes and errors. Can't wait to see how the project evolves

warden · Oct 30, 2022

Very nice portraits, Rob! There will always be mistakes but you’re refining your process and your results are excellent. Thanks for sharing!

Alan Edward Klein · Oct 30, 2022

MattKing said:
I too enjoyed the video Rob. And the photos that didn't have problems are great!
One observation though - cowboy hats lead to hidden or nearly hidden eyes when your front lighting is from an open or overcast sky! Was that your intention?

A reflector would brighten them up. Also, I was thinking that maybe some sort of simple Western background might be apropos rather than a nondescript one. Nice project.

Rob Skeoch · Nov 1, 2022

MattKing said:
I too enjoyed the video Rob. And the photos that didn't have problems are great!
One observation though - cowboy hats lead to hidden or nearly hidden eyes when your front lighting is from an open or overcast sky! Was that your intention?

I started using a reflector to open them up a bit more.

macfred · Nov 1, 2022

Thank you for sharing !!

Vaughn · Nov 1, 2022

Fun project. Carry on long enough and the riders will rotate through again and again, and become more familiar with you. I greatly enjoy Jay Dusard's, The North American Cowboy: A Portrait. 8x10 work on a little different scale, but an honest representation.

Once you become comfortable with your set-up and the variuos conditions you work under, it might be fun to consider full length portraits -- it's the pants that take the beating!

Actually, what sounds fun -- full-length portraits, but taken with the Rollie tilted at 45 degrees...like so...
8x10 RA4 print of my friend Bruce -- you might get strange looks like I got from him!

MattKing · Nov 1, 2022

Vaughn said:
it's the pants that take the beating!

Sounds like a good alternate title for the project

GregY · Nov 1, 2022

I like the look of the blank background...... reminds me of Avedon's style "In The American West."
Check out my friend Todd Korol did some cool 8x10 work at the Calgary Stampede.

Portrait-perfect vintage Stampede

Photographer Todd Korol travelled through the grounds of the 2015 Calgary Stampede with a Deardorff 8x10 camera to capture portraits of people at the Stampede

www.theglobeandmail.com

Alan, imo, a western background would look chintzy and detract from the portraits themselves.

gone · Nov 1, 2022

There are no mistakes, only sub optimal outcomes :>}

I agree w/ GregY, the plain background is probably better, but try it both ways, you never know.

Portraits of rodeo cowboys, some of the frustrations I've had with this project.

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Portraits of rodeo cowboys, some of the frustrations I've had with this project.

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