This is going to be hard. Yesterday I was tired, and tried to shoot more of our athletes at rodeo instead of just features and the same photos I already shot. 

I also shot this quick carnival. I always find festivals and that sort of thing hard to "break into" mentally. But I found this kid who was struggling after a ride on "The Hammer," whose shadow is seen in the picture. I was glad to find a little moment. 

Rodeo day two. So much more I'd like to do. I tried harder to get a bit closer, put myself in the situations that make me nervous or anxious. I'm working on "getting in there" a bit more. Either way, not a bad day on the job. Might have found a couple cool stories at an earlier assignment too. Here's to hoping.

Today was the perfect example of the old saying of "get there early, stay late." I didn't get there early, which I hope to tomorrow, but I did push my deadline as far as I could, even though the event was over, and I thought I had seen all I could see tonight. Which is never the case. But I talked myself into kicking around for another five minutes and then I found Wyatt (cowboy in my first picture.) I made one frame of him, and I was like YES this is the one, and I almost left. Then I thought, who am I to pass up a young cowboy sealing up the evening after having his right bicep stomped on by a bull? There can never be a good enough picture of that. So I hung around for another five and found the one you see here first. Lesson to myself: always work for the better photo and give it another couple minutes. 

So my long time best friend and shooter at the Orange County Register, Nick Agro, and I have challenged one another to blog everyday for a month. It's going to be tough, and some days will be better than others, but hopefully it'll bring back the old college days of always coming home to our kitchen with us and Sam Gause and sitting down at the table and showing our work from the day. It was always such a great way to see where we were at, judge our consistency, and have a good laugh at the trials and tribulations being a photojournalist can bring. So here is to a month of blogging, some improvement, and hopefully some alright pictures. 

Last night I shot my first rodeo out here. It took a minute for me to get my bearing, where I could, and could not stand, and get my grasp on the community. Made some just 'okay' frames in my book, but am looking for more tonight and the coming days. Here are a few I liked from last night. 

Seriously debating buying a cowboy hat and buckle this week to blend in. I've always looked for a good excuse.