Getting High
Qilian Mountain, China
2016

I’ve been in China almost a week now and finally got a chance to sit down and work on some of the many photos I’ve taken already. (Too many hours traveling by bus plane and train with early wake-up calls, nights of four hours sleep, and full schedules each day to get to it sooner.)

This photo from earlier today was taken at 14,300 feet at the base of the July 1, 1971 glacier on Qilian Mountain. (Yes that’s the glacier’s real name.) It was a pretty easy hike, if you can call walking at that altitude for any distance easy, as we started at 12,800 feet.

Rodeo Faces #4
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

It isn’t always just the riders whose faces can be quite expressive; their fellow riders and handlers can get pretty animated when watching them as well.

Rodeo Faces #3
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

Rodeo Faces #2
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

Rodeo Faces #1
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

There’s so much wider scale action going on with the riders and their horses in a bronc riding competition, it wasn’t until I was looking through the images closely I noticed the expressions on the faces of the participants. I’ve cropped a few of the photos to emphasize them.

Happy to be Shut of You
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

This guy looks awful cheerful for just having done a face plant off a horse (as in yesterday’s photo). He was probably just glad to be off of and safely out of the way of that horse.

(I don’t recall ever using the phrase “to be shut of” something or somebody, but I’ve always been intrigued by the wonderfully odd wording, so couldn’t resist using it here.)

Face Plant
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

The last Bozeman Art Walk for the season occurs this Friday. Over a dozen of my photos will be hanging at the Element (25 East Mendenhall Street). Stop by if you’re in town. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend, as I will be in China by then. But the Fashion Queen will be there to represent me. If that’s not enough incentive, I believe the Element will be providing free beer and treats.

If like me you can’t attend the art walk this Friday, my photos will up for at least the next couple of months. Also, through the end of September you can also see my Lectio show at the Belgrade Community Library.

Four Up
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

Dirty Clown
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

It was raining when we first got to the rodeo grounds. It soon cleared up and the sun came out, but not before this rodeo clown got a little muddy walking around the arena.