A Stettler photographer with a passion for horses and rodeo has produced a special cowgirl calendar to help support injured riders on the rodeo and chuck wagon circuits.
“I am a cowgirl myself and really love the beauty of a relationship between a girl and her horse,” said Kelsey Bignell, who produced the calendar to raise funds for the Edmonton Rodeo Cowboys Benevolent Foundation.
“I finally came up with this idea of the calendar for one of my favourite charities, and in a whirlwind of a couple months, it was off and running.”
“The foundation assists rodeo athletes in times of financial hardship due to rodeo-related injuries,” Bignell said.
Northlands, a public entertainment and event management organization, created the fund in 1989, and in 1995, the fund was transformed to a foundation.
Today, it’s considered as one of the most vital and invaluable programs in support of professional rodeo in Canada.
With 500 calendars printed, a few are still available, says Bignell.
“I had a lot of fun doing this and would love to do something like it again. As for the charity or subjects, there are a lot of ideas being thrown out there, cowboys, bullriders, or maybe even doing it for a local kids’ group or 4-H group for a fundraiser,” she said.
“I plan on deciding this spring what I would like to do it for, or maybe leave it to a vote on my blog and let the public decide.”
To produce the calendar, she sent out a request for cowgirl models on her blog and Facebook page last August, looking for girls to help with this project, and ended up with 28 cowgirls of all ages ready to participate in the venture.
Some were mother/daughter pairs, sisters or cousins, and a lot just on their own. “We had girls from all walks of the cowgirl life, cattle penning, barrel racing, ranching, team roping, showing, 4-H, and some that just love their horses as a pastime,” said Bignell.
They came from all over Alberta to help, from Erskine, Botha, Halkirk and Byemoor to Alix, Delburrne, Hanna Innisfail and Oyen.
Some of the girls’ families have used the foundation or at least know of someone who has.
“We did most of the shoots in a matter of two days at the Cholach farm, which they were so generous to have us all there, south of Botha,” said Bignell.
“I donated all of my time for the sessions as well, so this has been a non-profit project for myself.”
Many people donated time and services for the shoots.
“We did have off-and-on rain throughout the weekend, so not all pictures will have one of his hats,” said Bignell.
While the calendar was promoted virtually on her Facebook, her blog and by word of mouth, she also was able to sell them at several local businesses.
“I love being able to capture moments that quite often you will never get back,” said Bignell.