Barrel racing pictures
Several of the barrel racers, seeing that I had a camera in my hand, erroneously assumed I knew how to take a picture.... I fool a lot of people like that... and would like for me to take a picture of their ride. And I know that simple request doesn't sound too difficult, but it is, and I know that from past experience.
When my youngest son was riding bulls in the high school rodeo, I, of course, was taking pictures of his rides every weekend. It didn't take long before his bull-riding buddies wanted their photos taken so they could show their friends at school that they were actually crazy enough to get on the back of a 1500-pound irate bull. And that was doable because it was only four or five more people to take pictures of, and I could hand out photos of them at next week's rodeo.
But lo and behold, those bull riders had girlfriends who were barrel racers, and those barrel racers knew Steer wrestlers, bronc riders, and team ropers. So, before I knew it, I had between 50 and 75 rodeo kids wanting their pictures taken, and I could no longer keep up with who was who and whose picture I had taken and not taken.
Finally, to save my sanity and not disappoint the kids, I set up a website where I would put everyone's picture every weekend during the rodeo season. This made life easier for me until my youngest son was out of school, and I no longer had to spend my weekends taking hundreds of pictures, which had made my photography hobby, which I enjoy, feel more like an unpaid job.
Theboondork
I had a good time at the barrel racing yesterday. I enjoy watching barrel racing and have been missing the opportunity to take pictures of it since I can no longer afford the $30 a night to boondock at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson. And this venue was even better than the Pima County Fairgrounds.
I was able to park mere feet from the arena, instead of a quarter-mile away, when I was boondocking at the Pima County Fairgrounds, so I could walk back and forth to my camper whenever I felt like it. Being outdoors, I was able to use faster shutter speeds with my camera, so I had no blurry pictures yesterday. However, one thing was the same as the Pima County Fairgrounds: everyone I talked to was really nice folks.
A few spectators were watching the barrel racing, but I believe they were mostly friends and relatives helping the contestants
To get pictures, I have to stand next to the fence so I can take photos over the top of it, which I can’t do if people are sitting in the bleachers because I block their view. So I end up having to stand in places where the view is not all that great for taking pictures.
Since the announcer calls out the time at the end of each run, everyone, including the rider, hears their time as they exit the arena. The average time is around 17 seconds, measured in hundredths of a second.
Since this isn't a junior high school rodeo That I used to attend at the Pima County Fairgrounds, almost all the women here are older, and there's prize money for winning these events. However, in this girl's case, she's significantly younger than the rest of these young ladies, and since this barrel race is on a weekday, I assume she's on Spring Break like my grandkids are back in Denver.
You may notice these girls holding onto the saddle horn most of the time, and they don’t do it out of fear, as I did whatever I was on a horse; these horses turn so fast going around the barrels, it would throw them off If they weren’t holding on to something.
It looks like this horse and rider can’t seem to agree on what direction to turn.
This young lady was one of the folks who talked to me about taking a picture of her ride. I only found this one picture that I'd taken previously during the day, so I gave her my website in case I could find a picture, and hopefully, she gets a chance to see it.