An Afternoon with a Champ

I've known Stran Smith for a while as we used to be neighbors.  As such, I follow him closer than any other rodeo athlete and am proud to see him continue to be successful.

I am thankful to have worked with him on a number of occasions (see http://blog.russellgraves.com/2009/04/i-have-always-maintained-that-one-of.html, http://blog.russellgraves.com/2010/05/cowboy-town.html, and http://blog.russellgraves.com/2010/11/from-concept-to-ad.html

) and can say that he is genuinely a great person, family man, and rodeo competitor.

Tie down roping in an event that has so many moving parts (and so many things that can go wrong) it is amazing that someone can accomplish a feat where and man, his horse, and a rope act in unison to chase down, catch, and tie a calf in under ten seconds - and then do it over and over again.

Because of his prowess with a rope, Stran was the World Champion Tie-Down Roper in 2008 and was close to repeating this past year.

Here are a few from a recent get together.

The Pumpkin Patch

"Homemade models work cheap," I always tell my wife - referring to me always using my kids as models.

Since they were little guys, they've been in front of the camera and anytime I need young kids for models, they are always willing.  The good thing it that when I need them, it is always for something in which my kids have fun.

This time I had an assignment to do some shots in a pumpkin patch near Floydada, Texas.  The creative brief called for shots of the pumpkins in the field and some with kids in the picture.

Kids + pumpkins is an easy recipe for fun.  Just putting the orange globes in their hands was the only direction they needed.  The rest is all serendipity.