Messenger photo by Joe Duty

Arena lights filter metallic through grated underpinnings. A moon mist glow creates a subterranean-like world beneath bleachers.

Our roaming photographer found tunnel vision at the Sheriff’s Posse rodeo grounds in Decatur last week. The grid-work pattern frames weekend cowboys preparing for a bronco ride.

The confines of the rigid, repetitive construct contrast with the random outcomes of the rodeo.

Rodeo represents the continued efforts of man to control nature, to manipulate and master the instincts and efforts of domesticated wildness. Anything can happen.

Bleachers and electric lights show control over elements. Hooves and boots darting and dashing in red dirt show a spirit to master the wild, even after we already have.