ProRodeo Sports News - August 19, 2022

“I was running with a Western bunch, and I remember looking at the Western Horseman magazine all the time,” he said. “They would run rodeo stories with the photos of Devere Helfrich.” Helfrich was the official photographer of the then Rodeo Cowboys Association. “It piqued my interest, and I ended up with this, barely a camera thing and started snapping a few around the junior rodeos,” Fain said. By the time he turned 19 in 1961, Fain had gotten his first photos published in the Rodeo Sports News, the forerunner of the PSN, ironically opposite Helfrich’s images. He got his RCA card the following year. “That first shot was of Ronnie Rossen in Douglas, Arizona,” Fain remembered. “The action was great, but the focus was a little behind. “I was shooting with a 35mm with 200th of a second speed,” Fain noted. “I think in that same issue, the spring issue, I had one of a bareback rider in Brawley (Calif.) and a saddle bronc at Payson (Ariz.). Those were good photos with decent focus.” The critical eye has kept Fain photos in demand with contestants and media alike. And it’s kept Fain working to keep up with the changes in photography in the last six decades. “Even with autofocus now, it’s still not perfect,” Fain admitted, lamenting at a “missed” shot during the 2022 Logan rodeo. “Then, when we got color that was a whole different deal. Some photos in color just jump out at you but I’m still prone to black and white.” Still, he has made the transition from the days of chemical processing of film, oftentimes in the bathroom of a motel on the road, to uploading digital photos on a laptop without a hitch. “It’s been an evolution, building into it,” Fain said. “Back then, I didn’t worry about composure, you know, making sure the horse was in his kick and the guy was on the front end,” he said. When asked what his biggest challenges were, he noted he “didn’t remember cussing any of it.” “Bull riding is the easiest,” he said. “And saddle broncs, I’ve got that nailed because of the Wrights. A good saddle bronc is easy to photograph, and you can get probably eight shots with the horse kicking.” While still rodeoing, Fain studied Fine Arts,

K. J. Fain photo Fain celebrated his 50th year of shooting PRCA rodeos at the Evanston (Wyo.) Cowboy Days. During that stretch he was named ProRodeo’s Photographer of the Year two times.

“I loved the smell of ponderosas,” he said of Prescott, where he was on hand to shoot the centennial rodeo. “And Evanston was like the wild west when we started there.” Fain shot his first of 15 National Finals Rodeos in 1976 and he shot the first of 24 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo as well. He’s shot the National High School Finals, College National Finals Rodeo, Indian National Finals and countless other ProRodeos, Utah High School rodeos and college rodeos. Fain has published two books of his photos and has twice earned the PRCA’s Photographer of the Year Award. In 2014, he was inducted into Utah Cowboy Hall andWestern Heritage Museum, and he joined the Idaho Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2018 along with Karen. “The way I tried to handle myself in the arena, I tried to be invisible,” Fain said. “I set up so that I was not too visible to the crowd and not interfering with the action.” Between physical challenges, reaching his 80th birthday on Aug. 8, as well as the cost of traveling this year, Fain decided to call it a career. “I’m not retiring, I’m just quitting,” he quipped. The committee in Logan honored both Jim and Karen during a performance for their long commitment to the industry. “That was really nice,” he said. “It’s been fun and challenging.”

Photography first at Arizona State and later at Utah State after his wife Karen talked him into moving north. The pair had met when they both worked at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon one summer. “I was really open to the pine trees and mountains after living in Phoenix,” Fain said. The couple has three children, James (also called Jimmie) and daughters Kaylen and Karina as well as four grandchildren. Grandson Gavin Ellis recently won the team roping at the Silver State International Rodeo in the Junior High Division. After college, Fain competed and shot rodeos while Karen taught school. “I was entering a few and updating my equipment,” he said. “Karen worked for nine years, that helped get us established. When the school closed down, she started going with me and was a big help.” For generations of rodeo cowboys and cowgirls, the Fains were a team at the events, with Jim working away in the arena and Karen cheerfully helping folks pick out their favorites and place orders. “It’s a living,” Fain noted. “We’re not rich but we’re not uncomfortable.” As his competitive career phased out, Fain picked up more and more gigs shooting including Evanston, Wyo., where he shot for 55 years. That, along with Prescott, Ariz., are a couple of his favorites.

ProRodeo Sports News 8/19/2022

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