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“Queen of the Rodeo”. More precisely, 2010 Miss Rodeo South Dakota McKenzie Haley. When shooting, my eye looks for the real human spirit which is not always inspirational. Pain, hurt, sadness, bravado, defeat and love are the obvious emotions, but one thing I LOVE to capture is contradiction. While spending the day behind the chutes at the 2010 Days of 76 Rodeo I kept noticing the rodeo queen. Now a pageant winner (rodeo, beauty or otherwise) is all about the  smile, however it was missing this night once McKenzie was out of the public spotlight. Granted there was a lot of bling to draw your attention to her but there was an inherent sadness as she waited behind the scenes. Maybe it was the wear and tear of 7 months of appearances. Maybe she was homesick. Maybe it was because this was her last rodeo as queen. Photo copyright Jack Hughes 2010

“Queen of the Rodeo”. More precisely, 2010 Miss Rodeo South Dakota McKenzie Haley.

When shooting, my eye looks for the real human spirit which is not always inspirational. Pain, hurt, sadness, bravado, defeat and love are the obvious emotions, but one thing I LOVE to capture is contradiction.

While spending the day behind the chutes at the 2010 Days of 76 Rodeo I kept noticing the rodeo queen. Now a pageant winner (rodeo, beauty or otherwise) is all about the  smile, however it was missing this night once McKenzie was out of the public spotlight. Granted there was a lot of bling to draw your attention to her but there was an inherent sadness as she waited behind the scenes. Maybe it was the wear and tear of 7 months of appearances. Maybe she was homesick. Maybe it was because this was her last rodeo as queen.

Photo copyright Jack Hughes 2010

(Source: affinityimagery.com)

Filed under Rodeo american west deadwood south dakota photography