Wyllie wins fifth consecutive magazine Photographer of the Year

Published 1:26 pm Tuesday, January 12, 2016

JOHN DAY — Professional rodeo photographer Lindsey Wyllie kept his camera clicking last year and was awarded “The Competitor News” magazine’s 2015 Photographer of the Year, for the fifth consecutive year.

Competitor News is the largest rodeo publication in the west, also covering Montana and 23 other states.

Wyllie also received 2015 Cover of the Year for the publication.

He attended 72 rodeo events last year, and he’s been a photographer for six organizations, including the Oregon High School Rodeo Association, Northwest Professional Rodeo Association and Pro-West Rodeo Association.

His personal favorite cover photo went on the Competitor’s September 2015 cover.

In the photo taken at the Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo in Heppner, a young bareback rider is about to be bucked off and hung up, when pickup man Cody Quillan rides up and positions himself beneath the rider, allowing him to push back up on the horse and free himself.

“The photo depicts the total unity of horse and his rider, totally committed to doing their job,” Wyllie said.

That’s what it’s all about he said — “capturing that moment.”

Wyllie said he’s humbled as he looks back over photographs he’s taken over the years. During the past 10 years, his photos have been included in magazines, newspapers, rodeo posters and flyers, and he also sells his work on his website lindseywyllie.com.

“Words were never taken to heart as much as the ones that a cowboy/bullfighter friend of mine said to me at the end of the rodeo season this past year, that I was a great ambassador to the sport of rodeo,” Wyllie said. “I had never had thought of it that way before, and it made me think.”

When the Oregon High School Rodeo starts in Eugene in February, Wyllie’s schedule will pick up again, and he’ll be back on the road with his camper until late September.