Driving back from Melbourne on the weekend, and needing a break and a bite to eat, we decided to pull off the Hume Highway and into the little village of Jugiong, set amongst the rolling hills of the South West Slopes region of NSW.
You'd expect a blog post about Jugiong to wax lyrical about the pretty surrounds, or the fine Sir George Hotel or neighbouring Long Track Pantry with their wonderful meals. This is not that post (although both of those establishments are certainly worthy of the praise they receive). No, this post is about what was taking place across the road.
Dozens and dozens of horse floats were parked at the showground. Camper trailers, caravans, and tents filled the spaces in between. The adjoining grassed area was crisscrossed with makeshift corrals, containing hundreds of horses. Akubra-topped folk roamed purposefully amongst it all, on foot and horseback.
Curiousity piqued, we wandered across the road and into a world we had little idea existed. This was the world of Campdraft. For the uninitiated, Campdrafting is a unique Australian sport in which a a rider on horseback must "cut out" one of a herd of cattle in the yard (or "camp"), then block and turn it at least two or three times to show that they have it under control. They then take it out of the yard and around a pegged course in a figure eight, before guiding it through two pegs known as "the gate". This outside course must be completed in less than 40 seconds. This appears to be a difficult task.
Of course, seeing this in action sent me galloping (see what I did there?) back to the car for my camera. As I've written in a previous post, with sports photography (and there is no argument that this is indeed a sport involving much skill, and teamwork, from both rider and mount), it pays to learn and understand the flow of the sport you are photographing. But I was such a novice at understanding Campdrafting, with its quickly unfolding action, and many moving parts, that I found it testing. Which really is a good thing, because it flexes the photographic muscles, stimulates the thought and action process, and results in learning.
So I did my best to shoot a few dozen photos of the action in the "camp" and out on the course. But the real learning was in what was going on all around the action; the people. Here was an entire community of folk for whom horses were a central motif. Working horses - strong, agile, intelligent creatures capable of teaming closely with them to control livestock. These folk spoke a common language - it was English, but was filled with words, terms, and colloquialisms that might baffle many unfamiliar with their world. They prescribed to a uniform, that although lacking epaulettes and insignias, was evident as such; jeans, boots, Akubra hats, puffer or polar fleece vests, and bold-buckled belts. All ages, all genders, dressed alike. We, in our "city" attire, stood out like proverbial (working) dog's well, you-know-whats. Our dumb questions must have amused, and possibly annoyed them, yet they were gracious in explaining things, understanding that we were strangers in their midst.
It got me to thinking that a lot is said about the global village, the shrinking of the world, and the homogenising effect of the Coca-Cola-nisation of the planet. Yet, here at the Jugiong showground, this unique tribe had gathered to contest and celebrate. They certainly did not look, speak, or act like most other people. They exist in a larger world, but thrive in a smaller environment in which they have been brought up and in which they are comfortable. And really, is that not the case with all the tribes that surround us; the surfers, the anglers, the golfers, the skaters, the bikers, the cyclists, the painters, the dancers, the gymnasts, the gardeners, the foodies, the bushwalkers, the sailors, and on and on in a seemingly endless parade.
These are the tribes we join by choice. They are more often not defined by our work, but by our passions. We may exist, engage, and function in a wider world, but we are most comfortable when we are with our own, speaking a language we understand, doing the things we know best.
Like photographers.
Oh, and what did this photographer learn? The course is quite large, a 200mm lens helps bring the action close. There is a lot of rapid movement in Campdrafting, so I was tempted to use a narrow aperture for depth of field to allow for the erratically moving subjects. But there is also a lot of background distractions, so a wide aperture helped throw that out of focus. It also had the added benefit of allowing a faster shutter speed to freeze the movement, which meant a lower ISO, and less grain. And finally yes, there is a course that theoretically the action - and your camera - should follow, but someone oughta tell the bull. Warm up with some Torso Twists...you'll need it to be limber enough to track the action!
If you are interested in seeing the results of my first-ever Campdraft shoot, click here.
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