I’d been inspired by some photos of the lumberjack world championships that I’d seen in the instagram feed of Andy Anderson, a pretty stellar photographer. Gritty, interesting black and white images of the competitors, really only a handful of images, but it was enough for me to make a connection, and when Ed Roberts, the Brand Manager at ElectriCities, described the lineman’s rodeo that NC Public Power participates in yearly, I thought I saw parallels between lumberjacks and power linemen: the job required strength, agility and quick decision-making skills. And competition would give the linemen the same fire in the eyes that I saw in those lumberjack photos. Hopefully I could get close enough to the linemen to get portraits, rather than just “in action” shots.

I’ve been trying to have more portrait photography on my website, and getting access to the llinemen’s rodeo through Ed and his contacts would allow me to take this personal project to the next level. Plus, since I’d never done any photography for Ed or ElectriCities, this was a good chance to show them what I could do.

After a few initial phone calls and conversations about the idea with Ed, I visited the site of the rodeo, an open field that had a few tractors digging holes for the poles that linemen would climb during the competition. A big, big space that, on competition day, would be full of spectators and competitors, kids eating corn dogs and families cheering on their loved ones. I gathered that this was not going to be a controlled studio environment where I could take a lot of time to perfect lighting and poses of the competitors. I needed to take what I could get.

The morning of the competition, I arrived early and grabbed some space between a couple of team tents, near a small area of practice poles that  teams warmed up on before the main event. I immediately wished I’d gotten there even earlier, as I only had about a half hour before the opening ceremony to snag some early photos of competitors. I had been warned that once the competition began, I might have a harder time snagging portrait subjects: the competitors would be completely focused on the day’s challenges.

I had a backdrop, a couple of strobe lights, and a capable assistant, so after barking out some quick instructions for the backdrop and lights, I left Alex to set up, and walked the 50 yards or so to the practice poles, and, after watching a few men ascend and descend with incredible speed, I tentatively approached a spotter carefully watching his partner climb. “I’m a photographer, and I’ve set up a backdrop and a light over here (pointing), and I’m looking to get some portraits of competitors. Are you interested in coming over there when your’e finished with the warm-up, and posing for a few minutes?” He looked dubious, and I immediately realized two things: I needed to be more direct; and he was not interested in posing for a photograph. I was going to need a shorter, less involved pitch. Much less involved.

I walked back to Alex, shot a few test shots of him, and then walked back to the practice area and gave a new version of the pitch: “I’m taking pictures of competitors. Can you come over to my area with the backdrop for five minutes and pose in front of the backdrop?” That worked better (although not much), and I had gotten a few photos under my belt before there was an opening prayer, and some fighter jets flew overhead, marking the beginning of the competition.

After taking a few candids during the opening ceremonies, I walked back to my little area, and for the rest of the day concentrated on enticing competitors to my backdrop, while my assistant fought a losing battle with the wind and sun, tried to pull the backdrop tight, adjusted our shooting angle to match the sun, and continually charged our short supply of batteries for the strobe.

After a few hours of this, I thought we should change tactics. I took a few more candids of the competition, and then had Alex put a strobe light on a pole with a small reflector, and we walked around the competition, stopping whenever we found good subjects. That netted us a few more shots, and by then the day was winding down. We packed it all up, and headed back to the camera shop to return the rentals. All in all, a great day. A hard, interesting, unexpected, great day.