I was heading out of the door for a photo assignment one Saturday morning when I decided to grab my Olympus OM2 film camera and a roll of TMAX 100. I thought I might grab a few snaps on the old camera if I had time.
It was a typical Saturday as a photojournalist at The Sheridan Press: Lots of event coverage. I knew I had some time to spend covering the 150-year anniversary of the historic Wagon Box Fight at Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. I also knew had an opportunity to shoot some black and white film on some really interesting people.
Black and white images of actors in historic costumes in the Wild West was a perfect match, and entirely appropriate. I had my little film camera dangling from my neck along with a large Nikon professional DSLR I use for my job. After I got some satisfactory photos I would switch to the little guy loaded with black and white goodness and capture a few frames.
I was often shooting wide open on a 50mm f1.4 lens and a variable neutral density filter which made it a little tricky. What surprised me was how many of the images were keepers. About 18 of the 21 frames I shot were very good. I narrowed my selection down to 14 frames.
Some of the subjects weren’t in perfect focus, but that was okay. I felt it added some honesty to the body of analogue work.
I did some editing after scanning the film: cleaning up dust and scratches, tones, contrast and dodging a few faces.
More about the historic event
In the morning of Aug. 2, 1867, following a series of conflicts with white men, Sioux Chief Red Cloud and more than 1,000 warriors attacked a group of woodcutters and soldiers near Fort Phil Kearny.
The battle ensued for nearly six hours in what became known as the Wagon Box Fight. The civilian wood cutters circled around their wagon boxes for defense. However, the walls of the wagons were a pitiful 1-inch thick.
Remarkably, the soldiers held off the attack due in part to the fact that they were armed with newer rapid-firing breech-loading rifles–something which the Native warriors were not accustomed. The warriors sustained heavy losses as they used their traditional tactics of moving in fast on horseback for close combat.
Justin Sheely 
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