'Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture', the first book by Ivan McClellan, offers an inside look at Black cowboy culture across the United States in the 21st century, creating a bridge between present and past through sports, community, and love of the land. In 2015, photographer Ivan McClellan attended the Roy LeBlanc Invitational in Oklahoma, the country’s longest-running Black rodeo, at the invitation of Charles Perry, director and producer of The Black Cowboy. Over the next decade, McClellan embarked on a journey across the nation, crafting a multi-layered look at contemporary Black rodeo culture for the new book, 'Eight Seconds'. Whether photographing teen cowgirl sensation Kortnee Solomon at her family’s Texas stables, capturing bull riding champion Ouncie Mitchell in action, or kicking it with the Compton Cowboys at their Los Angeles ranch, McClellan chronicles the extraordinary athletes who keep the magic and majesty of the “Old West” alive with high-octane displays of courage, strength, and skill. 

The book’s title refers to the sport of bull riding — athletes must stay on a bull for eight seconds while it bucks and the more hectic the ride, the higher they score.

'Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture' is edited by Miss Rosen and includes a foreword by Charles Sampson, the first African American cowboy to win a world championship in professional rodeo.

Slideshow Starts around 12:52

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Ivan McClellan (b. 1982, Kansas City, KS) is a photojournalist and designer based in Philadelphia, PA. His work reveals marginalized aspects of black culture and challenges broad assumptions and myths about racial identity in America.

Marshall To is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on photography, painting and illustrations. He grew up uniquely in a Taoist family in a small town called Red Deer which created a unique integration of western landscape and eastern beliefs.

He moved to Vancouver where he currently resides working as a Chef - growing up in a Chinese immigrant household food was integral to the culture and more importantly a language used to communicate. Unsatisfied with just cooking Marshall began taking pictures of food and quickly began photographing and styling for local magazines and websites then off to an endeavor to seek even more with photography and art.

His first monograph, Blank Notes, is a book that combines that unique integration of western and immediate landscapes with eastern rituals and belief.

https://marshalljamesto.com

https://www.instagram.com/marshalljamesto

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This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

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Kai McBride is a photographer, teacher, musician, and maker who recently uprooted from Brooklyn to sunny Santa Fe, New Mexico. He spent ten years teaching photography and managing the photo facilities at Columbia University, his alma mater, where he received an MFA in 2008.

Born on the island of Kauai in 1972, by his 18th birthday Kai had lived in California, Oregon, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Texas, Oahu, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. He sharpened his powers of observation while adjusting to life between suburban ranch-style homes, cabins with no running water, and a twenty foot teepee in the field of a commune.

In 2021, Kai and Corn Wagon Thunder finished creating a small off-grid cabin on a mesa east of downtown Santa Fe which he named ATARAXIA. Solar power. Captured rainwater. Built with their own two hands. In 2025, they completed constructing a small art studio building on the property.

To make ends meet, he teaches photography classes online for StrudelmediaLive and can be found behind the counter at photo-eye santa fe three days a week.

https://kaimcbride.com

https://bsky.app/profile/kaimcbride.com

This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club

Begin Building your dream photobook library today at

https://charcoalbookclub.com