The Arena Record

Today I received a call that an article about the Bull Wear catalog photo shoot and several of my images were published in the September/October 2007 issue of the Arena Record - a one stop publication for anything and everything rodeo related. The editor of the Arena Record had contacted the owner of Bull Wear who asked me to provide a few sneak peek photos for the catalog to be published. The catalog is due out late this fall! If you look carefully on the top of the page, there is another image of mine being used by the SSBR - the cowboy in the tan colored chaps.

Part II - Catalog Shoot for Bull Wear Clothing Company

Whoa! What an interesting weekend this has been, to say the least. The owner of Bull Wear Clothing Company had arranged to have the second half of the inaugural catalog photo shoot at a 3,000+ acre ranch in Arcadia, FL. The beautiful ranch- partly used as a commercial orange grove and the other half raising stock bulls (Peace River Rodeo Company) - was the perfect setting.

We arrived in the small town of Arcadia on Friday afternoon and met Chris Stewart, the owner of the Peace River Rodeo Company, who gave us a tour of the ranch. I was a little nervous at first as we were riding through fields with bulls staring with us. Who could have asked for a better location for a company named Bull Wear?

After a few hours, we had an idea of where we wanted to photograph some of the sets, then it was on to the hotel to do the rest of the planning.

Saturday morning, we headed down to the ranch to meet up with our "models". I put models in quotes because the owner of Bull Wear wanted a true relationship with those who would wear the clothing so instead of hiring models, our models would be a professional bull fighter, a professional bull rider, and the Florida High School Rodeo Queen.

We had several pick up trucks as part of our entourage, and we pretty much photographed set after set in the 90 degree heat...UNTIL....we got a cry for help over the radio - one of the trucks in the group decided to take a short cut and got caught up in a stream. Completely flooded it's engine. Since our driver was the owner of the land, he went and pulled out the vehicle, then on to the last few sets.

One of the last sets included getting up close and personal with some of the stock bulls! There was nothing between us and the bulls. Thankfully, it was feeding time so they were a little occupied. The models were appropriately wearing "Got Attitude?" shirts for this set! I thought it was very appropriate location!

We finished up around 4ish and headed out for a very late lunch and to clean up for the big event that evening! What was the big event you ask? Why, it was a hog hunt. Yes, I did say hog hunt. All of the cowboys from the Southern States Bull Riding association (SSBR), were getting together for a hog hunt where the hogs had to be alive at the end. It was definitely an experience. No, I didn't hunt the hogs, but I rode in the vehicle with the "moderator" who was checking in on all teams and their dogs. Now, I can officially add that to things I have done!

After getting back to the hotel at nearly 1am, we crashed and then started on our 5 hour journey home the next morning.

Whoever said commercial assignments couldn't be extra interesting?!

Catalog Shoot for Bull Wear Clothing Company

Yesterday was a very busy, but very fun day! It was part one of the photo shoot for Bull Wear Clothing Company's inaugural catalog. Bright and early in the morning, the owners and I drove from Jacksonville to Hastings, FL, to the Big Horse Ranch -- the setting for the shoot.

In the week prior to the shoot, I had storyboarded each set I was going to photograph so I could keep things moving along, especially because the first part of the day I'd be photographing two five year olds for the kids line of clothing. You really never know what to expect with the kids, and this time was no different! You just have to have patience and expect it to take longer than you had planned! One of the young models didn't want to do anything until the very last set. Mom and dad weren't too happy, but no harm was being done. Just a five year old being a five year old! I just kept clicking the shutter and got some great images in spite of it!

After lunch, it was time for just a few items in the adult line. Although I had to improvise a little due to a sudden downpour, I got everything I needed and we were back on the road before dinner.

The second part of the shoot will be a cross state trek in the next two weeks!