His Profession

This picture is of Carl Dossey riding Bay Mare at the Ellensburg Rodeo in 1945.  It was taken by DeVere Helfrich.  ProRodeo Sports News proclaimed him, "The World’s Greatest Rodeo Photographer" and after his death in 1981 stated, “He will forever be ranked one of the top rodeo photographers of all time no matter who comes along with what degree of talent".

He and his wife, Helen Grace Reed, did rodeo photography for 25 years on the road, selling them to competitors, contractors, family members, fans, magazines, newspapers and rodeo organizations.  DeVere did the action and his wife the posed shots.  They developed film in motel bathrooms and later in the 50’s they bought a trailer and converted part of it into a darkroom.

He only had one good eye, but few people were aware of that.

He did more than develop a system for traveling down the road with a portable darkroom.  His real contribution  was that he established the “traditional” cowboy shot— meaning it showed the cowboy and animal performing at their peak.  The roper with the rope leaving his hand as his horse sets the brakes and parks on his butt.  A bull rider tight on the rope and his toes turned out with the bull straight-line kicking. Without DeVere there would have been no publicity for rodeo committees except for words and it takes "a thousand" of those to replace one single picture. All those rodeo legends captured in their prime for all time.

Cowboys are basically looking for two kinds of shot, one that shows all the elements that need to be there in order to be successful—OR A WRECK.  Rodeo is a dangerous sport where the majority of the time the photographer is in the arena facing the same dangers as everyone else  — while climbing the fence one-handed with expensive camera equipment.

That's Russell Huffman on the fence — with a very expensive camera in his right hand. Photo © 2004 Dudley Barker

Most shows, where you are “hired”, you pay your own way.  And like the cowboys, take part in the action.  It all depends on your ability to “hit your mark” .  You miss the moment and it's gone forever.  You can never get it back — and bulls don’t pose.

It’s miles of driving to arrive and finding the local hot dog vendor paid $50 to be there — and he gets to plug into the electricity first.

The announcer, bull fighters, barrel men, judges, contractors, timers and every other rodeo contract personnel get paid by the rodeo committee to be there.  The boy working for the hot dog vendor gets paid.  The athletes and the photographers get paid too — but only if they perform, and the cowboy has the extra money out of his gas budget.

But, when the cowboy heads down the highway he has proof to back up his story about his achievements.  When new memories replace those he’ll hang the picture on the wall.  When he's balding and getting gray he'll look through some thick specks and remember and can prove he was once “King of them all”.

Credits & Paid For by NBBA

Then Stolen by ABBI

The rodeo photographer wants to get fair pay to furnish these memories.

When he finds that his efforts have been made into calendars, posters, magazine covers, advertisements, and many other profit-making adventures, with no credit or compensation to him — he tends to get upset.

In the digital age — with folks carrying cameras in their cell phones — it's a harder market.  But, the professional photographer is the one that gets the real action shots.

Then he finds that robbers, bearing lawyers with miles of legal proceedings, try to knuckle him under.

Here’s the struggle today in a nutshell:  He's the last one to get called to come and take those rodeo pictures;  The first to be asked for free pictures;  and, he is expected to pay for his own lodging, gasoline and food.

After all that he then has to be ready to do battle when shady agents, and multimillions dollar corporations, decide to just steal his output.

It has to be in your blood — and you make some great friends.

Dudley Barker, a 30-year veteran PRCA photographer, and my mentor, probably says it best:

"When all is said and done, all that will be left are friends, memories—and photos."

LEGAL NOTICE:  Unless otherwise stated, all photographs, digital images, logos, stories, and other text content on this website are the exclusive property of Russell Huffman.   © 2005-2007 Russell Huffman.   They are protected by the U.S. copyright laws, and are not to be copied, digitally stored, or reproduced in any way without the written permission of Russell Huffman.

ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED