JOHN ADDISON STRYKER

1883 - 1974, b. Rockford, IL

John Stryker was born in Rockford, Illinois, September 1, 1883. He is most remembered for his body of photographs he took of the "Olympic of Western sport"*- the Rodeo. During his lifetime he crossed America, working rodeos as an announcer, a producer, promoter and sometimes a rider. He invented the chute that the animals come out of and he developed new ways of photographing action during an event.

Dramatic shots were taken from the ground, propping his camera on the toe of his right boot right next to a bucking bronco.

Some historians believe that John Stryker was directly responsible for the growth and sophistication of the sport.

His negatives are in the collection of the University of Texas at Permian Basin, Odessa. His photographs have been exhibited during his lifetime at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, and the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas. His photographs have been published widely including Life, Look, The Cattleman, The Western Horseman, and The Quarter Horse Journal. In 1977, The Rodeo of John Addison Stryker, was published by Encino Press in Austin featuring many of his famous images, with an introduction written by Ron Tyler, currently the Director of the Amon Carter Museum of Ft. Worth.