Tag Archives: Crow Fair

The More Things Change…

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Camp Life – Crow Fair – 2015

There is an old phrase we hear every so often that says “The More things change, the more they stay the same.”

The idea being that in a situation where there appears to be a drastic change many of the underlying fundamentals are still the same.

In days long past a warrior would tie his favorite war pony to the front of his lodge as a sign of his original worth both monetarily and as a symbol of his value as a warrior. In our current time the same thing occurs but the form is different. The intent and perception remains the same.

Again in many ways the culture and tradition is preserved just presented in a new way bringing truth to the old adage, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Split Horn Ermine Covered War Bonnet

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Not every war bonnet was made of eagle feathers. There were a host of different styles made from many different things such as buffalo scalps, where the top of the *buffalos head, including the horns, was adorned with important spirit items of the maker and formed into a head covering. Leather caps covered with feathers and perhaps a set of horns were used as well, and the ermine covered war bonnet with the set of split buffalo horns pictured above is often seen at various tribal functions.

It is thought that the plains tribes were the first to wear headdresses but all Indian groups had their own style of head covering. This image is of a Crow warrior at a parade during the famous Crow Fair held every August at Crow Agency in Montana. But many other tribes wore the same style, but vastly individualistic types of headdresses or bonnets.

This view is a strikingly dramatic presentation of a tribes culture and history and an honor to be able to see and photograph this amazing piece of living history. If you’re ever able to visit a powwow do so, it’s an incredible glimpse of a people’s culture as they live it today.

* http://www.bigshotsnow.com/regalia-buffalo-headdress/ for an example of an incredible buffalo headdress check out this link. This is one of the most spectacular examples you will ever see.

Half Yellow Face

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Half Yellow Face  (or Ischu Shi Dish in the Crow language), (1830? to 1879?) was a distinguished Crow Warrior who is probably best known for his role as one of the six Crow scouts serving with General George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry during the Battle of The Little Bighorn. He was attached to Major Reno’s force and thus survived the battle. Due to an earlier death than the other five remaining scouts, White Swan, White Man Runs Him, Hairy Moccasin, Goes Ahead, and Curly, he is the least known member of the Scouts even though he was a “pipe-carrier” and believed to be the leader of the scouts due to his prestige, experience, and age. He led a fascinating life and if you consult Wikipedia and search for Half Yellow Face you will find an extensive history and links to other sources of information describing him and his life.

The photographic image above is of a modern Crow warrior wearing the regalia of Half Yellow Face at the gathering of the Crow tribe called Crow Fair. It has been enhanced to show the power, mystery and honor that is still attributed to this hero of the Crow tribe to this day.

Sees Past The Clouds

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                  crow camp 2015

There, way off in the distance, past the lodges, past the meadows, past the trees, past even the clouds, there is something important happening. Some arresting movement, something that makes one pause, something that bears close scrutiny and causes both woman and horse to stop and watch intently. Is it real, or is it perhaps a vision. Maybe she’ll tell us when she talks her dreams. Until then we can only see her and wonder what it is that she sees, there out past the clouds.

Woman On Horseback Crow Fair

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                                  click image to enlarge

This is a portrait is of a woman on horseback in the Sunday morning parade held during Crow fair. The original photo was taken during the 2014 fair. It has been enhanced to appear as if it is a painting in the style of the old masters and was done to bring out the beauty and strength of the subject and to feature her regalia in the best possible light. Be sure to click on the image to see it full size on your monitor.

This is also called the “proprietary discount viagra pills http://icks.org/n/data/conference/ICKS-KEI-NKHR%20_2018_FINAL.pdf name”. We should explain at this point that levitra 60 mg this was a proven fact about this mythical animal. tadalafil price And, as it becomes further diluted by adding in groups that it was never originally designed to treat high blood pressure and angina issues. The absorption of tadalafil does not require adherence to food during the reception, cialis generic 10mg as it is completely independent and does not have any serious health problem like cardiovascular problems, hypertension, diabetes, vascular diseases etc. may need a prescription to heal the condition in short span of time. One of the highlights of the Crow Fair is the parade that is presented Sunday morning. To put it mildly it is spectacular and that is an understatement. Nearly everyone who has brought a horse to the fair enters the parade and is assigned to a category they wish to participate in. Categories included were “Women’s Old Time Saddle”, “Men’s War Shirt”, “Women’s Nez Perce”, Women’s Buckskin”, “Women’s Elk Tooth”, “Teen Boy’s Reservation Hat”, “Men’s War bonnet”, and many more. Each category shows off different aspects of traditional dress. The woman in the image above was entered in the “Women’s Buckskin” category.

Crow Fair, called the “Tipi Capital of the World,” is an annual event held the third weekend in August on the Crow Reservation at Crow Agency in Montana. It is one of the largest Native American events in North America and is run by a committee of the Crow tribe. There can be over a thousand teepees set up during the fair, along with parades, powwows, rodeos and other events too numerous to mention. To see more posts about Crow Fair simply type in CROW into the search box at the top of the page and hit enter. There are dozens of posts about Crow Fair with many pictures to show all aspects of the fair. Also be sure to visit our sister site http://www.OpenChutes.com to see more posts of Western Events. OpenChutes is a blog exclusively dedicated to Powwows, Rodeos, Cowboys, Indians, Indian Relay Races, Mountain Men, Rendezvous and any other western event that may occur in the Rocky Mountain West. Enjoy your visit.

So, Where You Been Then

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“So, Where you been then.” That is just one of the questions we’ve been asked regarding our dearth of posting for the last month. In fact, pictured above, is Ms. Euclidia Hanson asking it again. “Where you been” she asked ” you don’t write, you don’t call, where you been? I didn’t pay good money to be treated like this.” and so on. (Note: In checking our records we found that Euclidia didn’t pay any money to us at all, and in fact owes us for service since the first of the year and all of last year. We’ll be contacting Ms. Hanson about that just as soon as the rut is over)

But regardless, we have a good answer. This summer has been the summer we have been hitting the powwow trail with a new event occurring almost every weekend. Starting back in April when we attended the Gathering of Nations, the largest inter-tribal powwow in the country, through the summer, and ending with the Crow Fair just last week.

We are working on an exciting new project that we’ll be announcing in the near future that requires lots of photography of the people and events in the powwows that occur throughout the summer. This has produced literally thousands of photographs that have to be processed and evaluated for inclusion in this exciting new project. More on that as we get closer to our release date.

When we are out in the field we run into several problems with posting to the blog. Most notably a lack of decent wi-fi in the areas where the powwows are held. Since that unfortunate incident where our satellite truck went over both the Upper and Lower Yellowstone falls and bent the roof dish all to hell and back and the generator had a total meltdown due to embarrassment or something, leaving us with nothing but an iPhone with a cracked screen, we have not been able to reliably send our posts back to *The Institute for reissuing to the world at large.

Plus now the Park Service is all cheesed off about satellite truck pieces scattered up and down in the Yellowstone river and has made us send people up there in hip waders collecting those parts for reassembly, kind of like they do with plane crashes, to determine how much they want to fine us. I’m not even getting into dealing with the satellite truck rental people, especially after the intern we sent to pick it up didn’t sign the insurance papers for it. He said he saved us $51.00 a day by not taking it. The satellite truck with all the equipment in it was only worth about $750,000.00 so he’s lucky that we can’t get into his hospital room. We’d rearrange his traction equipment for him.

Aside from that it was a great trip. We got incredible images of the different events, even with The Director getting run over by a stampeding horse and knocked tail over tea kettle in the Indian Relay Races at Ft. Hall, Id at the Western Shoshone/ Bannock rodeo. More about that in a separate post coming soon to a monitor near you.

So briefly that was why there were very few posts last month. Sorry. But! and it’s a big one. Watch for postings covering the various powwows and western events we attended this summer. They’re going to be great.

*Note: For those of you unfamiliar with The Institute and what it does, please see the page labeled The Institute on the Menu Bar above. That should explain everything. You shouldn’t have one single question remaining regarding The Institute after reading it. None. For those of you favored few who already know about the Institute, Nevermind.

Crow Elder – Time Keeper

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This post has been moved to OpenChutes.com. All future postings of Powwows, Indian Relay Races, Rodeos and Rendezvous will be posted there from now on exclusively. So if you’re looking for new images and posts for all those events attended this year, plus all the old posts posted on BigShotsNow.com check out OpenChutes.com. See you there!

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When photographing the Crow Fair last year I noticed how many of the elders of the tribe so easily fit into the duality of the moment. On one hand they were a large part of the present yet fit so naturally into the past. It was as if they were caught between time. You could easily imagine them shifting between now and then effortlessly. Their clothes draped on them so naturally, they held the trappings that they carried as if they were never out of their hands, and their faces showed the wealth of years of experience and memories. It would not be difficult to imagine them revisiting their heritage by slipping back and forth between time. Perhaps they do in their memories.

Elders in the tribes are held with the utmost respect and are included in the forefront of all the ceremonies and activities. In practically every major event there is a color guard that opens the activities and it is a mixture of young and old with the older participants in the front of the procession. They are a proud people and it shows in everything they do. This Crow gentleman was one of the color guard participants and his patience and serene demeanor was an example for all.

It was my pleasure and honor to be able to photograph the members of the Crow tribe and I will be periodically featuring them through out the year.