Alberta man found another way to revel in the excitement of the rodeo ring by trading in the back of a bull for a camera
CAMROSE, Alta. — Rodeo is not only dangerous for the riders. Sometimes the arena gets rough for the photographers.
A horse and rider fell on Ken Marcinkoski while he was changing film in the player’s box of a Didsbury, Alta., rodeo. He needed stitches in the butt after a horse raced past and kicked as he hung off the chute in Camrose, and a bull ran over him while changing film at the Bruce Stampede in Bruce, Alta.
After 50 years of being a professional rodeo photographer, Marcinkoski has the scars to prove it.
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Marcinkoski’s chance encounter with a former high school teacher inviting him to join a local camera club led to a love of photography. In the club, he learned to take proper exposures, develop film and gain a respect for the magic the camera could capture. Soon Marcinkoski was bringing his camera to rodeos, where he rode bulls, and began taking pictures between his rides.
After four years, he gave up riding bulls and only went to the rodeos with his camera.
“It was easier doing the photography,” said Marcinkoski of Camrose.
A 1969 photograph of saddle bronc rider Malcolm Jones on Vold’s horse Necklace at the Wainwright Stampede kick-started his 50-year career as a rodeo photographer. The photo caught the eye of a rodeo organizer and it was used to promote the 1970 Edmonton Stampede. It was his first photo sale and his realization he could turn his love of rodeo and photography into a business.
“It showed me the value of taking pictures at rodeo events.”
Like the professional cowboys, in the early years Marcinkoski had the movements of the horses and bulls memorized and he could anticipate the twists and turns of the animal and knew when to press the camera shutter.
“I predicted how to get a good photo.”
Marcinkoski estimated he has almost a million photographs and contact sheets in film and digital of rodeos in his basement. To preserve rodeo history and display his photographs, Marcinkoski published a 340-page book Through My Lens 50 years of Pro Rodeo.
“I wanted to show the history of rodeo and give me a place to show my photographs and feature the cowboys, cowgirls and volunteers.”
While many photographers take rodeo photographs for a few years, no other photographer has his extensive collection spanning 50 years, and he believes the collection needed to be shared with other rodeo fans.
