Adventure

Grand River Pow Wow

Six Nations of the Grand River is located in Ohsweken , Ontario , just outside of Brantford .  Each year, this reserve hosts a pow-wow of impressive proportions.  Over 400 dancers from across North America , about 100 native craft booths and 30 native food vendors grace the grounds of the Chiefswood Tent and Trailer Park. 

Having little knowledge of what a pow-wow was all about made it that much more exciting to look forward to!  I knew that it was a cultural/dance celebration but I didn’t quite understand the magnitude until we pulled up to the park.  Hundreds of cars were parked and people were milling about in the thousands.  Dancers dressed in ornate, hand-made costume anxiously awaited their turn to dance or results from competitions that had already taken place.  The atmosphere was truly alive, positive and extremely welcoming.

Upon arrival, Rob and I decided to take a seat in the bleachers that were arranged in a circle around the dance arena.  We had one of the hottest days of the summer so far to contend with so we were braving some pretty potent sunrays as we focused upon the “two step” competition.  The graceful movements, the dynamic relationships between dance partners in combination with the live singing and
drumming made for a really emotion-inspiring experience.  There was no age limit for participation in the pow-wow and we loved the fact that children and grandmothers alike were involved in the various dance competitions.  At various points during the afternoon, all of the audience members were invited to come join dancers in the arena for a song or two!

The dance arena was organized into different sections.  About three quarters of the circle was surrounded by bleachers, the remaining quarter consisted of tented areas for judges, MCs and the host drums and singing groups.  All of the music at the pow-wow was live and the beat of the drums could be heard a great distance from the dance arena.  Typically, a pow-wow begins with opening ceremonies/Grand entry where all of the competing dancers dance into the arena to an opening song.  Next, important community members bring in flags to be hoisted on the pole in the centre of the dance arena.  Then, the dance competitions begin.  At the end of the
competition, awards are handed out and closing ceremonies begin with the retiring of the flags.  Competitors dance out the flag in parade fashion.   As we were attending the final day of the pow-wow, we were privy to the final dance competitions, tie-breakers and closing ceremonies.

We pulled ourselves away from the dancing to check out the various craft booths and food vendors.  Native crafts were on sale: drums, stone carvings, dream catchers, clothing, paintings and jewelry.  I picked up some nice glass bead bracelets and tried very hard not to purchase some of the ceramics that I was admiring.  I grabbed a few
cards and vow to go back to the craft shops once we’re settled in our new home.  After admiring the arts and crafts, we decided that we just had to try some of the unique native food offerings.  Rob opted for the moose burger on a piece of fry bread and I opted for some fresh-squeeze d l emonade with a piece of fry bread.  Rob flipped over his burger and we both loved the fry bread.  Created in the 1800s, frybread is essentially bread that has been deep fried.  Resembling a large scone or fritter, it is very dense and filling but especially delicious!  Frybread is also used as the base for Indian tacos and in place of the typical dinner roll. 

If you plan to attend a pow-wow, come with your camera but not your pet, some money and your dancing shoes! (someone left their puppy in the car, and an announcement had to be made about it's impending death!)
For more information:

Six Nations tourism: Events-

http://www.sntourism.com/tourEvents.htm
Here are the Native Singers. Right up to about 10 minutes before we left, I was sure it was a CD playing. These guys were singing crazy non-stop!
Robs Location Tips:
Whenever I come back from a shoot, I always kick myself for one reason or another.... what I could have or should have done differently. Here are a couple of tips for shooting a Pow Wow:

1) Bring the longest telephoto lens you have.  I was shooting with a 24-105 Lens, and it was fine... but I would have loved a 200 or 300 MM Lens. It will allow you to get closer to the action, plus blur the background (especially if you can shoot 2.8)

2) Shoot from the highest level of the bleachers if you can. Shooting from this higher angle allows you to frame out the background clutter from the crowds, and let you focus on the dancers. (seee the top 2 pictures on this page).

3) This counts for most outdoor events: but if you have a choice of multiple days, try to pick the day that is the most overcast. We showed up at the last half of the event on the last day, so we couldn't really be picky... but I had a lot of problems with exposure (see how over exposed the background is on the pictures to the left and right of this sentence).