The blurred scene really shows the action as the contestant fights to stay alive.

TicK

(Viewed Full Screen)

Great action shot. A bit of a nutty ambition to stay with the bull without getting killed.

As Tick and Cindy said already, this is a great action shot. Some folks might question it, saying "Why didn't you speed up the shutter? (whine, whine, whimper, whimper)," but the blurring gives this one a real kick, illustrating how quickly things can go from iffy to downright dangerous in a rodeo arena. Over the years I have seen plenty of photos in National Geographic, photos of desperate and furious action that look exactly like this. Most of the clarity is in the bull dodger, right where our empathy lies. Excellent shot, Laura. If this doesn't place in the current contest, then I will have lost my faith in these voters.

-Nik

I was at that rodeo. I know how fast things were moving and the excitement level. Excellent capture of the action.

Best of luck to you in the contest:)

Super action shot and he's lucky the bull missed

Great shot - I hope they don't spear the bull to a long and painful death as they do in Spain.

These bulls live through the fight to get smarter & smarter! Makes it harder for the American bullfighters.

I already PM'd her to let her know mom. lol

Now that the voting is over I see this excellent photo of yours didn't place in the "People" contest. It's disappointing... nearly as much for me as it is for you. Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me; contest voters here at Caedes change from contest to contest, making it impossible to figure out what image they'll approve of. Then again, member participation here is down so far that, even though I've quit submitting images and have dropped my commenting down to about 10% of what I normally do, I was still in the top 100 most active list of members for a long time. For that to happen, there has to be a huge lull in site activity. I think you mentioned something about getting an image published, locally? That's your true litmus test, not these silly contests. Whether or not you win or place here means nothing. First and foremost, you are the one who has to be satisfied with the quality and success of your images. As far as I can see, you have some that succeed and some that don't--making you just like the rest of us shutterbugs. A photographer can shoot, regularly, for weeks, months, years even, getting ordinary shots, until suddenly (and often unexpectedly) everything comes together for that outstanding photo. Keep shooting. It will happen (again--"So Close" is in that category). And that photo will end up in a magazine or a website somewhere, and framed and hanging on your wall. That's when you know you've succeeded.