Another Pow Wow Moment

A young Native American dancer reacts to her friends that are taking part in the Redding Rancheria Stillwater Pow Wow that was held in Anderson over the weekend.

What I love about shooting the Pow Wow (besides the great light) is the way the Native American's honor their pasts. They pay so much attention the their moments in history. There was one part of the opening ceremonies on Sunday that was so moving. During the grand entry a feather fell from one of the head dresses. The announcer asked to clear the arena because of this incident. I was a bit confused. Then he explained why this fallen feather was so important. A link to the past and a link to a bird that gave part of himself. It was very moving.

I also love the tradition of the native dance. There is a lot of respect that surrounds the Pow Wow. I was not able to take photos of people without their approval. That can often ruin the moment. So I tried to gain permission early and go back and photograph the people later.

All-in-all a great experience for me to photograph and I came away from this event inspired, excited and I had a heighten level of respect for the Native American's.

Technically Speaking:
I shot 3192 images. Wow, that is almost 100 rolls of film. I mainly used my 17-55 and my 80-200. Since there are three photos I'll only mention the top one. I shot it at 7:12 pm and the light was perfect. The late sun adds excitement to photography because of the warmness of the light. The lens was set at 55mm and the ISO at 400. The F-stop was 3.5 and shutter speed 1/250. The white ballance was set for sun.

Stillwater Pow Wow

This weekend the Stillwater Pow Wow takes center stage at the Anderson Fairgrounds.  I have the fortune of photographing this event for the Redding Rancheria and Win-River Casino.  This is a great event with lots of moments.  One has to be very respectful of the tribal members and ask permission to take photos.  The outfits are colorful, the energy is great and the atmosphere is festive.  If you are thinking about attending, do so.

I shot this photo at last years event.  If you follow the link above you will see other photos I took.

Technically Speaking:

I shot this photo at sunset on the second day of the event. I was laying on my belly to get this shot.  There are grand opening ceremonies each day.  That is a great time to shoot.  It is late and the sun sets fast so bring a flash.  This was shot with my Nikon D200 with a Sigma 14mm lens.  The ISO was 250.  The F-stop was 4 and shutter speed was 1/400th of a second.