Jerry Gustafson by Mark Reamer
1972: Sidney, Iowa
Photos Curtesy of: Jerry Gustafson
T
he weather kept getting worse as the day wore on. Storm clouds continued to build over the rodeo arena as the action continued below. By the time the bull riding event was underway, it had grown progressively darker until the overhead lights turned on. Cars driving by turned their lights on in the middle of the day. Between rides, spectators and cowboys kept getting nervous; eyes on the skies just in case it started to cut loose. It was Barney Brehmer’s turn to give it a go on P11. He settled onto the broad back, took a deep breath and gave the nod. The gate flew open and P11 launched into the arena thrusting himself and Barney toward the darkening skies above. Across the arena, Jerry Gustafson, a young rodeo photographer, stood with camera ready, his finger working the shutter as the action played out in front of him. It wasn’t until later he realized what he had. He push-processed his Tri-X film to 1000 ASA: normal. Then, carefully looking at the negative, he further processed the film to 4000 ASA. It was to become one of Jerry’s favorite shots of his entire career. P11 was well off the ground and nearly horizontal to it. Barney’s face was focused and intense. His form was solid. The cowboys lining the fence in the background were all focused on the drama before them. It captured bull riding at its finest and, nearly 50 years later, Jerry still considers it one of the best photos he’s ever taken and that’s really saying something. Jerry was no stranger to rodeo when he first started photographing them. He grew up on a registered Hereford ranch near Clear Lake, SD. Cattle ranching, rodeo and the entire culture was the world he lived in. Rodeo wasn’t necessarily in the family, but cattle ranching was. You simply can’t grow up ranching without having some exposure to rodeo. It would be like growing up on the coast of Maine and not being exposed to lobster fishing. As a kid, his family regularly went to local rodeos such as the nearby Crystal Springs Ranch Rodeo. His love of photography goes back nearly that far. He took his first official photography position his sophomore year of high school when he was named the official photographer for Clear Lake High School; the first to ever hold the position. Basically, the school asked if anyone was interested and Jerry volunteered. They gave him a Polaroid camera and an instruction manual. He read the manual and spent his own money buying a couple books about photography in an effort to better understand what he was trying to do with the camera. That was the entirety of his official early training. It was enough. Jerry soon knew he had discovered a passion. A month later, he bought his first camera and flash for $576. That wasn’t cheap in those days. Still isn’t today. A month later, he submitted some of his photos in a competition and was chosen the All-State High School Photographer of South Dakota. He began his career as a professional photographer in 1962. He did what most other photographers did; weddings, portraits, horse shows were the norm. He did those until 1968. He still loved photography, but brides can be a bit fussy and timing the perfect family portrait between junior’s tantrums can be trying at times. There wasn’t anything really wrong with what he was doing, it was just kind of, well, boring. He knew what he should be photographing: rodeos. The idea became a plan and he set the plan in action. It wasn’t long before he was standing on the arena fence, camera in hand, waiting for the chutes to open and the action to begin.