Tied On Tight
Sells, Arizona
2025

Most of the cowboys in the bronc riding even were unsuccessful (sometimes spectacularly so) in staying on their horse for the required eight seconds. Despite appearances however, this guy (the same as in yesterday’s post) did make it the required time, and he put on quite a show of it. Using continuous shooting mode on my camera, I got about 30 shots of him during his ride. In the first six or seven he looked very much in control of the situation. But in the rest of the photos he looked as gone from that horse as he does in this one, or worse. In each one you would swear the next photo would show him on the ground. But he kept hanging on with this right hand, with the rest of his body flopping back and forth all over the place. I don’t know how many style points he got, but it was an impressive eight seconds of acrobatics. I also imagine he immediately went and iced his wrist and arm given how much abuse it took.

Hatless Cowboys #1
Sells, Arizona
2025

At the end of our stay in Arizona, we went to a combination all-Indian rodeo, fair, and Indian pow-wow. The bronc riding even at the rodeo was the most fun to watch, and the most punishing to the participants (at least the cowboys, I’m not sure about the horses). In addition to having a hard time staying on the horses, the cowboys had a hard time keeping their hats on. The horses did a pretty good job of getting rid of both the cowboys and their hats, although the cowboys tended to stay on longer than their hats did.

Rocky Path
Crater Range, Arizona
2025

Sunseeker
Crater Range, Arizona
2025

Wilted Lilies
Wichita, Kansas
2024

Bare Tree #139
Ajo, Arizona
2025

Desert scenes take many forms, from the very lush to the very desolate. This is obviously one of the latter. Strangely enough it was taken on a golf course.

‘Til the Wheels Fall Off and Burn #2
Ajo, Arizona
2025

I’m listening to a Bob Dylan song (Chimes of Freedom) right now. Perhaps that’s why a line from another one of his songs, Brownsville Girl (one of my favorites), came to mind for this image. (That the two songs are completely opposite in style and content seems to have made no difference in my mind making the association.)

Sold Out
Ajo, Arizona
2025

Pony Express #2
Ajo, Arizona
2025

I posted a black and white photo of this mailbox a couple of weeks ago. I just came across this slightly different view of it that I had not converted to black and white and my reaction was “what was I thinking?” I actually don’t know what I was thinking that day, but today I’m thinking the color version has so much more to offer.

Sitting Places #26
Sells, Arizona
2025

Yesterday’s POTD finished up the series for Ajo (I think–maybe there’s still a few lurking out there in my Ajo photos I haven’t paid attention to just yet), but here’s one from a nearby community on the Tohono O’odham nation. Will this become a recurring series for me? Who knows, maybe, at least on occasion when I come across an interesting one. But, on any consistent basis, I think it will be hard to beat the variety of interesting, often hardscrabble sitting places that are to be found in Ajo.