Oregon-based photojournalist Ivan McClellan has spent more than a decade immersing himself in contemporary Black Cowboy culture. In 2024, he told Wallpaper* about uniting the results of his years spent travelling with his camera across the United States in the book Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture. Now, in 2026, he has created a second edition – Eight Seconds: Legacy in Motion – with 91 previously unpublished photographs and a new introduction and foreword.
Its title referring to the length of time a cowboy must stay on top of a bull or horse in order to qualify and score, the new Eight Seconds places rodeo in the context of the animals and land. McClellan’s imagery, encompassing the wide skies and open plains of the American West, looks to the future of rodeo, putting a younger generation at its heart.
Discover a selection of McClellan’s photographs below, as described by him.
Ivan McClellan on the story behind the images
Jumpmen kick off a Pony Express relay race in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, 2021. They pull back their horses who are eager to take off until the whistle blows and the let them sprint around the arena.
Dantey Eldridge, a professional bull rider, sits on a bucking barrel at an 8 Seconds bull-riding training camp in Wasco, Oregon. We put on these camps at no cost to the riders to elevate their skill set.
I shot 16-year-old barrel racer, Kortnee Solomon, at her ranch in Hempstead, Texas. As we stood in the pasture talking all of her horses gathered around, curious what we were doing.
Kamal Miller is an urban cowboy in Carson, California. Here he is working out a horse at his stable. The spirited horse was so happy to be out of his stable that his ran around in a circle with Kamal holding the reins for 15 minutes.
Trevonte and Randy riding horses in front of a Ward Chapel Church in Boley, Oklahoma, 2025. I saw these two walking down the street and they stopped for a moment in front of the the church that I happened to be standing in fron of. It was a serendipitous moment.
This is taken at the Roy Leblanc Invitational Rodeo in Okmulgee, OK in 2022. This is my favourite rodeo at golden hour. Everyone is getting ready for the rodeo. Athletes are putting on their rodeo outfits and getting their horses ready for competition. The moment the sun goes down the energy explodes with the Pony Express, a relay race on horseback.
Spectators watch the rodeo on a sweltering hot summer night in 2020 the height of the Covid pandemic. The stadium lights glisten off of sweaty Black skin, not a mask in sight.
Eight Seconds: Legacy in Motion, published by Damiani Books, is out now, available from damianibooks.com and bookstores such as waterstones.com as well as amazon