'You just fall in love with rodeo': Longtime Stampede cameraman reflects on 48 years
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'You never know what's going to happen, so you have to have total concentration,' he said.
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Genereux says one of the most memorable moments of his career was the iconic showdown for the 1986 Stampede bareback championship, between Steve Dunham and Robin Burwash.
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'They tied. Well, you got to have a runoff for the money, right? So they had to ride a second horse — damned if they didn't tie again,' Genereux said.
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'Of course, they put so much into it, because you're riding for big money. The two of them went off into a corner of the chute, talked for a minute and said, 'To heck with this, we're going to share.' '
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That's just one of many incredible moments Genereux has witnessed from behind the camera.
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'There are stories out there that would break your heart. It's so friendly, so good, so honest — they're just super people,' he said.
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The excitement of capturing those unexpected moments is what's kept Genereux coming back year after year.
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'It's sometimes just so amazing out there,' he said. 'The challenge of trying to capture that little instant in time is so important to me. You never stop learning when you're working here.'
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Throughout his career as a freelance cameraman, Genereux has done a little bit of everything, but not everything comes with the same challenge or excitement.
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'I did 47 years of hockey,' he said 'It's the same thing over and over. After that amount of time, I wasn't thinking about doing hockey. It was mostly muscle memory.'
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Genereux said the people he meets at the Stampede each year have also contributed to his love for capturing the sport.
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'You just kind of fall in love with rodeo,' he said. 'The people are so nice, so accommodating. The stock handlers in the back, the cowboys that are out there doing the show — they're real people, real down to earth, and there's no BS.'
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Genereux's love of the rodeo has also become a family affair. His son, Kal, has been doing camera work at the rodeo for about 30 years, and this year, his grandson was hired as a television assistant.
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'My grandson came here last year to help us tear this out on the Monday after the Stampede is over,' Genereux said. 'It's a gruelling, dirty, ugly job — those cables are not covered in just dirt — but he enjoyed it. We can't keep him away now.'
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