Frank Lawton (R) of Deadwood, South Dakota fires his single action revolver after cocking the gun with his left hand during the Canadian Open Fast Draw Championships in Aldergrove, British Columbia July 21, 2013. The present-day Fast Draw competition was born from the Hollywood myth of the western gunfighter, and the idea is to draw a single action revolver from a holster, and cock, fire and hit a designated target in the shortest possible time. No live ammunition is ever used, only blank cartridges or wax bullets. The targets are either a metal silhouette used with wax bullets or balloons that burst from the muzzle blast from the blank cartridges. A light atop the timer signals the competitor when to fire and once the target is hit, it turns the timer off, measuring the speed to thousandths of a second. Picture taken July 21, 2013. REUTERS/Andy Clark (CANADA - Tags: SPORT SOCIETY SHOOTING) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 15 OF 25 FOR PACKAGE 'CANADA'S QUICKEST GUNSLINGER'. TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'FAST DRAW CLARK' - RTX11ZPS
Frank Lawton (R) of Deadwood, South Dakota fires his single action revolver after cocking the gun with his left hand during the Canadian Open Fast Draw Championships in Aldergrove, British Columbia July 21, 2013. The present-day Fast Draw competition was born from the Hollywood myth of the western gunfighter, and the idea is to draw a single action revolver from a holster, and cock, fire and hit a designated target in the shortest possible time. No live ammunition is ever used, only blank cartridges or wax bullets. The targets are either a metal silhouette used with wax bullets or balloons that burst from the muzzle blast from the blank cartridges. A light atop the timer signals the competitor when to fire and once the target is hit, it turns the timer off, measuring the speed to thousandths of a second. Picture taken July 21, 2013. REUTERS/Andy Clark (CANADA - Tags: SPORT SOCIETY SHOOTING) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 15 OF 25 FOR PACKAGE 'CANADA'S QUICKEST GUNSLINGER'. TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'FAST DRAW CLARK' - RTX11ZPS. © Andy Clark / Reuters
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Frank Lawton of Deadwood, South Dakota fires his single action revolver after cocking the gun with his left hand during the Canadian Open Fast Draw Championships in Aldergrove, British Columbia

The present-day Fast Draw competition was born from the Hollywood myth of the western gunfighter, and the idea is to draw a single action revolver from a holster, and cock, fire and hit a designated target in the shortest possible time. No live ammunition is ever used, only blank cartridges or wax bullets. The targets are either a metal silhouette used with wax bullets or balloons that burst from the muzzle blast from the blank cartridges.

Andy Clark is a freelance photographer based in British Columbia, who frequently shoots for Reuters. See more of his work here.

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Dan Bracaglia

Dan Bracaglia, the News & Features editor at Popular Photography, has been covering imaging and camera technology for 13 years, with work appearing—both written and photographic—in publications including American Photo magazine, Digital Photography Review, Popular Science magazine, the Star-Ledger, Sound & Vision magazine, and of course, Popular Photography. Contact the author here.

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