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Rodeo Parade Cow Impersonator

Digital color photo, converted to sepia

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.

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