Stites Photography: January 2009

haha yep it's been a while!

My buddy Dave Kozlowski asked me to come out to Chad Eubank's ranch and do some photography of real cowboys (and a cowgirl) hard at work. It's harder than you think! It's a cross between a traffic cop and MMA cage fighting.

1st One has to coax very large, unhappy cows into a pen. Chad using brain not brawn, simply lured the beasts toward him by beating on an empty food bag! Like the pied piper the lumbering cows followed him in a fairly organized line right into the pen.

2nd One must then direct them like a traffic cop to the branding chute. Imagine this, you're in a long metal hallway, where at the end of this hallway the walls collapse in on you and your head is trapped in a vise. Someone tasers you in the butt and you race forward toward what looks like an exit. Once you run into the chute, one of the cowboys has to time it just right to trap your head with the swing doors, squeezing your guts in the V trap. Next, side bars are selectively kicked out of the way so that the electric brander can do its work. With a nice hiss of the burn and some smoke gets you a great looking K2 on your butt! Except in the case in which Dave gave it a go....kkkkkk222222 for one poor cow!

3rd Involves the MMA cage fighting. In another corral are the "little" cows. Calves they call them... Little baby calves, are not little. Nor are they weak, slow, lethargic or stupid. Infact they are fast, strong, nimble and will kick you square in the nuts if you come near them! Dave was given a chance to wrangle one...I'm really glad I have semi-formal medical training from the military. I was getting ready to use his camera strap as a tourniquet in case he had a head wound. hahaha.... Of course it was my turn, and I chase this mean little sucker down grabbing it by the tail. He bucked and just lightly got me in the left thigh with a Muay Thai kick. Nice shot! My martial arts back ground taught me how to soften my bones and move them out of the way incase of such an attack. I finally pin this beast into the wall, and he rears up and is now standing straight up. I thought I was fighting Rampage Jackson, had it bit my ear I would have changed that to Mike Tyson. I cross face the 6ft tall, 200lb calf and mashed him(she?) against the cage..I mean pen. It sticks its tongue out at me, I'm sure a bovine version of flipping me the bird... Kim's dad Tommy, grabs a syringe and squirts some sort of vaccine in the calf's neck. I was laughing inside my head thinking it resembled performance enhancing drugs illegal in cage fighting!

Here's some pics of the festivties. MUCH thanks to Chad and Kim Eubank for letting K-Dawg and I come out and be cowboys for a day. It's WAY tougher than what one sees on TV!
The Flickr gallery of a bunch more shots are here.

Chad at Sunrise