Tough stock

Known for his fashion, travel, celebrity and advertising photography, this was a subject far removed from Simon Upton's usual domain. A chance encounter in a country pub while he was out shooting a fashion campaign, led Simon to the rodeo and within minutes he knew he'd found the subject for his first book. Unlike every other photographer there, he wasn't after the shot of the best rider or the wildest bull but was far more interested in capturing, reportage style in black and white, the essence of the rodeo, of the characters that inhabit the scene, of the spectators, of what goes on around the arena than what necessarily happens within it.