Documenting the Bust of a Hidden Cockfighting Ring
I’ve photographed a lot of unexpected moments over the years, but this one stopped me in my tracks. I was assigned to document the busting of a cockfighting ring in rural Wisconsin, and honestly, I didn’t even know cockfighting existed in the Midwest. It’s the kind of story that reminds you how little we sometimes know about what’s happening just beyond our own routines and assumptions.
Driving past quiet farm roads and barren fields, it was hard to reconcile the calm landscape with what was unfolding behind closed doors. That tension is part of what makes photojournalism so humbling. You think you understand a place, and then an assignment like this pulls back the curtain. Sometimes our job isn’t just to show what’s happening, but to confront our own surprise and share it with others.
