September 2016

Rodeo Faces #3
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

Rodeo Faces #2
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

Rodeo Faces #1
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

There’s so much wider scale action going on with the riders and their horses in a bronc riding competition, it wasn’t until I was looking through the images closely I noticed the expressions on the faces of the participants. I’ve cropped a few of the photos to emphasize them.

Happy to be Shut of You
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

This guy looks awful cheerful for just having done a face plant off a horse (as in yesterday’s photo). He was probably just glad to be off of and safely out of the way of that horse.

(I don’t recall ever using the phrase “to be shut of” something or somebody, but I’ve always been intrigued by the wonderfully odd wording, so couldn’t resist using it here.)

Face Plant
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

The last Bozeman Art Walk for the season occurs this Friday. Over a dozen of my photos will be hanging at the Element (25 East Mendenhall Street). Stop by if you’re in town. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend, as I will be in China by then. But the Fashion Queen will be there to represent me. If that’s not enough incentive, I believe the Element will be providing free beer and treats.

If like me you can’t attend the art walk this Friday, my photos will up for at least the next couple of months. Also, through the end of September you can also see my Lectio show at the Belgrade Community Library.

Four Up
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

Dirty Clown
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

It was raining when we first got to the rodeo grounds. It soon cleared up and the sun came out, but not before this rodeo clown got a little muddy walking around the arena.

Banished
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

This kid was playing in the mud puddle with the little girl in yesterday’s photo, but his dad didn’t approve of that for some reason, so he ended up on this viewing platform watching her from above.

Lady MacGyver
Crow Agency, Montana
2016

What do you do when presented with a mud puddle on a breezy but have no toy sailboat to take advantage of it? You improvise of course, and make something out of nothing.

I am going to be posting a series of action shots taken at the Crow Fair Rodeo. The first couple of images are not of the actual rodeo events, just some of the pre-rodeo action at the fairgrounds.

The rodeo is one of the main events at the annual Crow Fair sponsored by the Crow Nation. With over 45,000 attending, it is reportedly the largest Northern Native American gathering. Billed as the teepee capital of the world, well over 1,000 teepees can be seen pitched in the campground.

One interesting aspect of the Crow Fair is that it occurs along the banks of the Little Big Horn River, much in the same area where Custer’s troops came across the Lakota and Cheyenne encampment that spelled their doom. In fact, from the grandstand at the rodeo, Last Stand Hill is visible about a mile in the distance.