I’ve seen Bettina Hansen a few times in recent months (she’s a recent transplant to Cascadia) but never once did she think to mention this awesome photo.
Maybe I got sucked in by the fact it is A FRIKKING MONKEY RIDING A SHEEP DOG IN SOME MUDWORLD MAMMAL OLYMPICS! … maybe the photo is a document of animal misuse. It’s mad-bonkers.
Either way, this photo of animals being forced to do unnatural things under the watchful eye of humans seemed to say more about the Angola Prison Rodeo than the thousands of images I’ve seen of people at the Angola Prison Rodeo. It’s a weird event.
See Bettina’s full set from the Angola Prison Rodeo.
(All of this explains the title to this interview with me from ages ago. I never understood the title at the time.)
Prison Photography 
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November 9, 2012 at 3:30 am
bettinahansen
Guilty. Thanks for digging this up, Pete. I would love to go shoot it again, not as a 23-year-old intern. This is the most requested photo I have ever taken. Makes me die a little bit inside when I think about that.
November 12, 2012 at 6:15 pm
las artes
The 47th annual Angola Prison Rodeo took place at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. on Sunday. The rodeo, started in 1965 as a form of entertainment for the prisoners and guards, was opened to the public in 1967.
March 9, 2015 at 1:39 pm
“They Didn’t Want Us To Show the Reality, the Gore”: A Chat with Photojournalist Giles Clarke | Prison Photography
[…] before that Angola prison is probably the most photographed prison in the nation. Damon Winter, Bettina Hansen, Darryl Richardson, Tim McKukla, Sarah Stolfa, Adam Shemper, Lori Waselchuk, Deborah Luster, Serge […]