The Rodeo, no. 2 1993

Nancy Andrews made this photograph, The Rodeo, no. 2, and look at how she saw it! It’s not about the big moment of action but the quieter in-between times. The mud splatters give the photo a real feeling of place. I wonder what Andrews was thinking, turning her back on the bull-riding spectacle. Maybe she was more interested in the grit and the texture of the everyday, the stuff that gets overlooked. The light is beautiful: soft and flat, not drawing too much attention to itself, but still hitting the details. I keep coming back to the “Lite Beer” and the number 555 pinned to the back of the cowboy’s shirt. A little ordinary moment amid the big, dramatic rodeo. She’s catching the world in the background, that the rodeo is not just the rodeo. She’s an interesting counterpoint to someone like, say, Garry Winogrand, who was also interested in the everyday—but Andrews does it with this very gentle eye, capturing small moments that are beautiful in their quietness.