It’s time again for the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. I started attending the stock show and rodeo when I was just three or four years old, and it’s something I’ve been documenting for decades as a photographer. It always provides a lot of opportunities for good photos.
Not all of those opportunities are the shots you expected.
Twelve years ago, I was downtown at the big rodeo and stock show parade, on assignment for the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. They wanted photos of longhorn cattle coming down Houston Street. I was maneuvering to find a good spot in front of the cattle, when I came across this guy.
Yes, I was there to shoot other things, but how could I pass this up?
San Antonio has an image as a fun, friendly, and welcoming place, and I think this is a good illustration of that spirit.
Immediately after I snapped the shot — and before I could ask him who he was and what he was doing — a friend of mine appeared and momentarily distracted me. When I turned back around, my subject was gone.
Blended back into the herd, perhaps.
See more of Al's work on his website.