Among those in the stands for the PRCA Xtreme Bulls tour at Cheyenne Frontier Days this week was wildlife and outdoor photographer Shane Paul of Wyoming.
He describes himself as a “quadriplegic and disabled photographer,” but from his perch in the Frontier Park Arena stands he captured all the action and movement of a bull rider’s seconds-long ride on an angry 2,000-pound horned creature that’s going viral.
In a slow-motion video, the maybe 5-second ride lasts an agonizing 21 seconds and shows the violence and strength involved between man and beast.
“I typically do nature and wildlife photography, but I have a fascination with the rodeo as well,” Paul said. “My family grew up on a farm and I grew up around that.”
Paul said he shot the event at 4K resolution at 120 frames per second. Those settings enabled him to capture the ride, the details involved and depict the animal and cowboy’s efforts to win their contest.
“The slow motion really gives you the ability to see the details that you don’t really realize that you miss because eight seconds goes by pretty fast, and when you put it in slow motion that eight seconds becomes for example a 20- or 30-second video,” Paul said. “It gives you the ability to see what those athletes really go through just to stay on there for eight seconds.”
Paul’s video begins with the bull and rider already out of the chute and a bullfighter standing just behind the bull watching intently as the bull and cowboy above launch and twist in the air.
The rider is tossed above the bull and thrown to the side, but hangs on and recovers.
Music underneath the video is heavy on the percussion emphasizing the jarring movements.
The bull leaps again and the rider’s right hand goes straight up and appears to come down touching the bull.
The bull rockets up for a third time and the rider seems in control. Then the powerful animal tries another vertical and the rider comes down with his hand touching its neck.
But the fifth mighty vertical leap and twist sends the rider soaring. The bull’s twist means the rider lands on his stomach on the back to the bull and he somersaults off.
‘Epic Ride’
Paul, 49, said his posts from the rodeo and bull riding have generated requests from more than a dozen cowboy and cowgirls for the shots,which he gives to them. He regrets not getting the bull rider’s name to get him a copy of the video.
“I thought it was a pretty epic and courageous ride,” Paul said in describing it.
Paul and his family arrived in Cheyenne in 2017 as he took the supply chain manager position at the Walmart distribution facility on Interstate 80 west of Cheyenne. He said he worked in logistics for the company for 23 years.
He started his photography efforts in 2020, and then while elk hunting on Laramie Peak in 2021 had an accident that left him a quadriplegic. He did not touch his cameras for a year and thought he was done with photography.
“And then persistence of some friends and some people who supported me said, ‘Hey, if there is a will there is a way,” he said. “I’ve always been a very active person in my life before that.
“So, we came up with way to adapt the equipment to my wheelchair.”
His condition kept from being able to manipulate the cameras with his fingers, so he learned to use this thumbs and pressure from the side of his hands to operate the camera settings.
After his forced retirement from logistics, Paul said he works on his photography full time.
He sells wildlife and landscape photos, but his passion is not the business side of things, it’s getting out in Wyoming and Colorado behind the lens to capture the region’s beauty.
His Facebook page includes videos of a fox mom playing with pups, birds in slow motion, and there are mountain scenes and photographs of bear, moose and other creatures.
There are many recent photos from the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo showing the grit and determination of cowboys and cowgirls, as well as images of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds in the skies. He said he also has an Instagram page and website for his business.
Paul said he has been at the rodeo most days and plans to be at the finals this weekend. He has a press pass to the rodeo.
“My hope is to work with (Cheyenne) Frontier Days and be one of their photographers down on that photography podium,” he said. “If nothing else, if I can encourage other disabled folks that, ‘Hey, there are lots of things to still do’ and they can see somebody disabled being part of that, I would love to be able to share that with people as well.”
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Shane Paul loves to get out in the wild and shoot scenery and animals in Wyoming’s great outdoors. (Courtesy Shane Paul) 
This 5-second bull ride takes and agonizing 21 seconds in slow motion. (Courtesy Shane Paul)
