CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – Michael Magill, former marine and law enforcement officer was taking rodeo photos in Chugwater, Wyoming during their annual chili cook off last month.
Taking these rodeo pictures went as normal, however when he was checking the photos after the event he noticed something peculiar.
Michael had managed to get a recreation of the “Steamboat” bucking photo, most notably known as University of Wyoming’s logo, and also found on all Wyoming license plates.
Describing the moment Michael says, “we call it divine coincidence, everything came together at the perfect moment, for that picture”.
As according to Michael he has been trying for years to capture a photo that close, and now that he has it, he is not letting it go.
In talking about the photo, “will always be a very very special photo to us, it’ll hang in our home you know for the rest of my life it’ll be passed down to my kids”, he states.
Coincidentally, Steamboat also came from a ranch located near Chugwater.
“You know its really neat to see that Steamboat, probably one of the first horizons he looked at were the bluffs that are in the back of the picture”, he adds.
Michael says that he does photography because it is “very therapeutic”, especially as he says compared to his time as a law enforcement officer.
However, Michael adds, “one of the main reasons we do what we do is to help preserve this portion of the west. I just want to show the world that this still exists, were still here, and were still doing it”.
Michelle Magill has been apart of Michael’s journey from the beginning, going from “a military wife, to an officers wife, to a photographers wife”, she can be accredited as Michael’s biggest fan, and to be with Michael every step of the way is a pleasure.
“It’s a pleasure in the journey of being able to support his role as photographer, so its just something that I just really love to do, just to be there and cheer him on”.
Michelle said that Michael screamed at her to come and look at the photo, and she was ecstatic to see what was showed to her.
Then, on June 19th the Magill’s posted the photo onto Facebook, and the results from the community really surprised them.
Michelle says, “we put it up thinking how cool is this, we did not pull it up thinking everybody and their grandmas are gonna really fall in love with this”.
The response from the community was huge to the Magills,”for those people to care as much about it as we do, gosh my heart just explodes with it”, she adds.
Michael Magill Photography will be printing a limited amount of 24×36, signed, and numbered print of his photo with a certificate of authenticity.
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