Around Town

The buildings here are very different to me. The municipal building are mainly giant concrete structures. One is the local school that looks like a giant concrete arena painted with Indian designs, the other is the local ambulance corps. It is one of the few non concrete large buildings.

Horse Camp

Here on the reservation preserving tradition and teaching values is very important. After many years of loosing traditions due to rules, laws, and boarding schools the Sioux are trying to reclaim share their traditions. In the past these people have been known for their amazing horse handling. I have been lucky enough to spend time with a retired cowboy who used to "top off" the horses. He would ride them till they stopped bucking then pass them to the next hand who would teach them how to turn. He would do as many as 16 horses a day. There is a camp here where both indians and whites teach the indian kids how to ride and how to be responsible. Here are a few photos from the camp.

FIrst Prayer

I had my first prayer meeting today with Tony, the elder that has been nice enough to let me stop by his house and talk to me about the tribe everyday. He is also an ordained deacon at the local catholic church. Tokio is one of the small areas of the reservation, so we went there for today's prayer. The Indians love to have celebrations, and really love to have food at them so we had some great food after the prayers. My favorite was an Indian staple, Fry Bread. There was a little baby on the floor eating some fry bread so I grabbed my camera.

Firefighters

I stopped by the local fire station my first day here and was kind of brushed away. No one was rude, but they obviously didn't want to talk to me or have their picture taken. I guess word got around about me or something because today I went there again and they moved trucks and did everything I needed so I could shoot there. I need to bring them some of the shots tomorrow.

Meeting Time

So I am slowly meeting people out here. The people are very wary, and it is very hard to get photographs of people. I have been meeting with an elder of the tribe in the mornings for several hours, he is telling me a lot about traditions, the old ways of life, and history of the tribe. I started photographing children, it is much easier for me to start there. The biggest sport here is basketball, it is actually the only sport I have heard about since I got here. I haven't seen any sports stickers, hats, or jerseys except basketball ones. I even see the air jordan logo on the back of a lot of pickups. So here is one of the courts that is right down the street from where I am staying.

FInally Here

I finally arrived to North Dakota. I started going around today trying to get some photographs of the local Native Americans that live on the reservation, but I didn't have too much luck. I did meet a very nice man last night who is a deacon at the local church on the reservation and everyone seems to know who he is. Hopefully I can find him tonight and have him help me meet some of the locals and get some great images. After being chased by dogs for a little while on the reservation I decided I would drive through the plains for a little while. I found the one hill here that shows the never ending flat plains, and found some bison. Either tonight or tomorrow I will start to post shots of the local people.

Curwensville PA

I have been on the road and haven't had time to post a shot I got while I was in PA. I am now in Minnesota and should be in North Dakota tomorrow. Here is a shot of what used to be a giant woods, that was turned into a christmas tree farm, that was turned into strip mines, that is now slowly being taken back over by nature.