Cowboy Monkey

No, I'm not talking about the popular downtown Champaign watering hole and music venue, but instead Whiplash the Border collie riding, sheep herding, cowboy monkey! I viewed in awe this amazing spectacle last night at the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo in Dodge City, Kansas, where I was following rodeo clown Barry "Boom Boom" Johnson for this Sunday's Ad Astra photo page (Post to come following Sunday's publication). Anyway, it was cool to shoot a rodeo again, this time with the monkey who the announcer once referred to as "the most famous cowboy in professional rodeo."

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Jr. Jedi

An outtake from shooting some wild art yesterday in Hutchinson. Wonderful.

Rubber on Dirt

Some photos from the 53rd Hutchinson Grand Nationals at the Kansas State Fairgrounds on Saturday night.
This place was LOUD.

Recycling Behind Bars

Some photos from a story on the recycling program at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. I was only allowed to shoot one of the guys working and he was happy to let me shoot away and go about his business. Surprisingly, at least outwardly, everyone seemed extremely nice. Definitely an interesting experience going inside a state prison.

-Pat

41 Years in Office

Elected in 1967, Darrell Pope of Hutchinson, is the longest serving NAACP branch president in the country. He was recently honored for his service at the 100th anniversary convention of the NAACP in New York where he met President Barack Obama.

I had the pleasure of making a portrait of Mr. Pope the other day for a front page centerpiece on his accomplishments for the Saturday, July 25th edition of the Hutch News. The page designer Lucas and I talked beforehand about the photo and everything came together for a really great front page lead-in for an awesome story. I've done plenty of studio photography before, but this was the first time I'd tried using a snoot to light only part of a subjects face to give some really dramatic light. Usually I'm out in nature or some poorly lit room trying to never use flash so it was cool to be able to be in control of everything in the studio for a change.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Irish Dancing in Kansas

Aideen Hagan (right) and Rachel Hamill, both 15 and of Portadown, Northern Ireland, perform traditional Irish dancing during a rehearsal for the Ulster Project talent show at the Flag Theater in Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon, July 23.

This is one photo of many I took while following around this big group of Irish and American teenagers to several different events over about a two or three week period, during the Irish group's visit to Hutchinson. The Ulster Project is a program that brings together Protestant and Catholic teens from Northern Ireland and the United States in order to foster better understanding and friendship between the two groups in Northern Ireland. A group of Irish teens and support faculty was paired with teens and faculty in Hutchinson and the Hutch News did a big story following the group's activities. This was my favorite picture from the story.

Rodeo Part 3: Where Cowboys and Bulls Meet

This is the third of three posts from last weekend's Pretty Prairie Rodeo. Finally, what the rodeo is all about, watching man and beast compete. Disclaimer: the fourth photo is technically a steer and not yet a mature bull (Actually, thanks to "Rodeoshooter" correcting me- see comments below- steers are castrated, so I guess this little guy never will become a bull). Hopefully, there will be another rodeo around these parts before my time here is up. It was definitely an awesome event to cover.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Rodeo Part 2: Bulls

This is the second part of a three part series from last weekend's Pretty Prairie Rodeo. My favorite event from the rodeo was definitely bull riding- each night they had 2 rounds of it, at the very beginning and the very end, which made for two very different lighting conditions in the same event each night. The bulls don't seem too happy about being there, but I'm sure they get pretty excited when they buck off a human attempting to ride them.

Stay tuned for the next post to see what happens when the cowboys and bulls meet in the ring.

-Pat

Rodeo Part 1: Cowboys

This is the first part of a 3 part series from the 2009 Pretty Prairie Rodeo - "Kansas Largest Night Rodeo." I covered action and put together slideshows for 3/4 of the days of the 4-day event, Wednesday-Saturday last week. It was the first rodeo I'd ever been to so everything was definitely exciting for me.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed making them,
Pat

Recent Outtakes

To keep the blog from going stale, here are some outtakes from one of my recent assignments. I'm on my last day of covering the 4-day Pretty Prairie Rodeo so I'll have a big post from that coming up soon.

-Pat

A Day at the Downs

On Friday I shot my first Ad Astra Sunday photo page for the Hutch News. I went back down to Anthony, Kansas to Anthony Downs to shoot the horse and dog races. It was a really fun time shooting and the officials were very cool about giving me all the access I wanted. The jockeys and track staff also were incredibly accommodating and had no problem with me clicking away while they went about their business. After shooting for the entire evening, I have a new respect for jockeys- they get pretty beat up out there. I saw multiple riders get thrown from horses and even one guy get stepped on afterwords by the horse. But there's something about it they have to love, which keeps them coming back- some of the guys I talked to had been jockeys for 30 years or so. They ride because they want to and for little pay and usually little glory, which as a photojournalist is something that I have to respect.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Six of a Kind

Last week I got the chance to head down to Norwich, about an hour or so south of Hutchinson, and hang out with the Headrick family for the evening. In 2002, Sondra and Eldon Headrick increased the size of their family from 3 to 9, giving then three year-old daughter Aubrianna six new siblings. The Hutch News has been keeping up with the family since the sextuplets birth, and today we published the latest installment of their story. Danielle, Ethan, Grant, Jaycie, Melissa and Sean Headrick are now 7-years-old and will be going into second grade when school starts again in the fall. It was an interesting experience making photos of the kids since they've grown up with periodic visits from people with cameras and for the most part ignored my ever-clicking camera shutter. Anyway, it was a fun night with a very nice family, who let me hang around for dinner and tag along to a pool party. I may try to catch up with them a few more times during my time in Kansas. We'll see.

Thanks for lending your eyes,
Pat