Monday was an amazing day for me. I have become pretty good friends with John Toya, who lives on the Jemez Pueblo. John is incredibly artistic, and the only man I know who makes a living solely from his artistry.
John has incredible talents with painting and pottery. The most interesting thing about John, from my perspective, is his regalia. John is the eagle in very special dances at the Pueblo. As a native American ceremonial dancer, John is allowed to possess and wear eagle feathers. The Pueblo has open days when the public is invited into the Pueblo, and allowed to watch the dances. But I have never seen the eagle dance performed on a day the Pueblo was open to the public. It is a long story, but John has become aware of my interest and abilities in photography.
About a year ago, a musical group with a South American emphasis performed at the charter school on the Pueblo. Perhaps you are not aware of this, but even in modern times there are substantial patrons of the arts. One of these patrons sponsors John in performing ceremonial dances in elementary schools. It was this same patron who paid for this South American musical group to perform at the charter school on the Pueblo. John had agreed to perform the eagle dance at the school, and I was asked to film it with a hand-held camera. Film is not my preference, or strength. At any rate, I never had the chance to see what I filmed. When the dance was finished, I handed over the camera I had been provided. I never saw the film.
Over the last year, John had become interested in having me do a photo shoot of him in his eagle regalia. The first thing you might ask is why we don?t simply refer to the eagle costume. The answer is interesting and insightful. A costume is generally seen as something that hides the wearers true identity. This is exactly the opposite of native american beliefs. Regalia is defined as ?the ensigns or emblems of royalty, as the crown or scepter?. I don?t know what went into the decision that John would become the eagle. But the feathers, beads, silver, turquoise and other items that he wears are not intended to hide his identity. They are seen as an expression of his true, though hidden identity.
Finally the time came when John got pushed towards my photographic opportunity. He has been invited to travel to the East Coast, and be some sort of artist in residence. For whatever reason, he needed some pictures of himself as the Jemez eagle dancer. And that is how I found myself in our ancient jeep wrangler, trying to find John?s home on the Pueblo. To my amazement I find him, and we head to a beautiful portion of the Pueblo. We go past a no trespassing sign, then let ourself through a closed gate. Without John, I would never have been in this beautiful place.
The rock formations are deeply red, and fantastic in their various spires, towers and walls. It has been a pretty dice ride in the little red wrangler. (You can see it?s picture on my blog). Sometimes the terrain forces me to the edge of an arroyo where the ground is so loose we slide sideways down towards the middle of the arroyo. Even when we are sliding sideways I am able to keep going forward, and hang on long enough to find a open stretch of ground away from the arroyo.
While John transforms himself into the eagle, I am walking around overwhelmed by all of the photographic opportunities. I had figured pretty well as far as the arrival of the clear and powerful New Mexico sun. There are flat rock faces that will give a great shadow to go along with the ?eagle? pictures. There are rock spires with just enough of an edge to allow John to climb to the top.
When the transformation is complete, we start taking pictures in earnest. With his years as a dancer, John strikes on incredible pose after another. He is an expert at incorporating the posture and movements of the eagle. We are far removed from normal life, and it sometimes seems I am out there not with a man, but a fantastic, and fantastically beautiful eagle. As I move John here the sun glows through the eagle feathers. As I move him in front of the red, flat rock face the shadow of the eagle is very prominent. It is as though the eagle shadow and John the eagle are dancing with each other. Some of the excitement must have worn off a little, because I am suddenly aware that I have spent considerable time and effort climbing rocks, crossing arroyos and monitoring the position. We both decide at the same time that we need to quit.
With the glory of digital photography we head back to John?s home on the Pueblo. I am so nervous about the pictures that my hands betray a slight tremble. If these pictures are not great, there will never be a second chance. I use an apple computer, and the pictures begin to flow into a program called Aperture.
I don?t know how to describe the pictures. Everything we did worked. They are honestly magnificent. After seeing the first four of a couple of hundred pictures, John asks if I can stop showing ths pictures, When he comes back I realize he has gone to get his mother to come and see the pictures. Now I know they are every bit a special to John as they are to me.
We go through all of the pictures, and now I have an earnest desire to talk to John. The deal going in was for me to pick one favorite picture for a single print I could keep. I asked John if he felt he could pick just one picture, and he agreed that would be nearly impossible. We all try to negotiate from our strengths. I have the money to buy as many prints as I want. John could do this as well, but my pockets are deeper than his, and I had physical control over the pictures, at least for the time being.
We struck the following deal. I could have as many prints as I wanted. But I would order (and pay for) two copies of every picture I wanted. For every picture I print fr myself I will print one for John. I would not post or send electronically any of these pictures. Finally, I was to treat them as sacred. I will comply with all of these conditions.
I wish I could post a picture. All things considered, these are by far the best pictures I have ever taken. I am waiting for my prints to arrive. If they look like I expect them to, I am going to fill a wall with a series of these pictures. I am dying to show them to you. But you will have to come to New Mexico.
John has incredible talents with painting and pottery. The most interesting thing about John, from my perspective, is his regalia. John is the eagle in very special dances at the Pueblo. As a native American ceremonial dancer, John is allowed to possess and wear eagle feathers. The Pueblo has open days when the public is invited into the Pueblo, and allowed to watch the dances. But I have never seen the eagle dance performed on a day the Pueblo was open to the public. It is a long story, but John has become aware of my interest and abilities in photography.
About a year ago, a musical group with a South American emphasis performed at the charter school on the Pueblo. Perhaps you are not aware of this, but even in modern times there are substantial patrons of the arts. One of these patrons sponsors John in performing ceremonial dances in elementary schools. It was this same patron who paid for this South American musical group to perform at the charter school on the Pueblo. John had agreed to perform the eagle dance at the school, and I was asked to film it with a hand-held camera. Film is not my preference, or strength. At any rate, I never had the chance to see what I filmed. When the dance was finished, I handed over the camera I had been provided. I never saw the film.
Over the last year, John had become interested in having me do a photo shoot of him in his eagle regalia. The first thing you might ask is why we don?t simply refer to the eagle costume. The answer is interesting and insightful. A costume is generally seen as something that hides the wearers true identity. This is exactly the opposite of native american beliefs. Regalia is defined as ?the ensigns or emblems of royalty, as the crown or scepter?. I don?t know what went into the decision that John would become the eagle. But the feathers, beads, silver, turquoise and other items that he wears are not intended to hide his identity. They are seen as an expression of his true, though hidden identity.
Finally the time came when John got pushed towards my photographic opportunity. He has been invited to travel to the East Coast, and be some sort of artist in residence. For whatever reason, he needed some pictures of himself as the Jemez eagle dancer. And that is how I found myself in our ancient jeep wrangler, trying to find John?s home on the Pueblo. To my amazement I find him, and we head to a beautiful portion of the Pueblo. We go past a no trespassing sign, then let ourself through a closed gate. Without John, I would never have been in this beautiful place.
The rock formations are deeply red, and fantastic in their various spires, towers and walls. It has been a pretty dice ride in the little red wrangler. (You can see it?s picture on my blog). Sometimes the terrain forces me to the edge of an arroyo where the ground is so loose we slide sideways down towards the middle of the arroyo. Even when we are sliding sideways I am able to keep going forward, and hang on long enough to find a open stretch of ground away from the arroyo.
While John transforms himself into the eagle, I am walking around overwhelmed by all of the photographic opportunities. I had figured pretty well as far as the arrival of the clear and powerful New Mexico sun. There are flat rock faces that will give a great shadow to go along with the ?eagle? pictures. There are rock spires with just enough of an edge to allow John to climb to the top.
When the transformation is complete, we start taking pictures in earnest. With his years as a dancer, John strikes on incredible pose after another. He is an expert at incorporating the posture and movements of the eagle. We are far removed from normal life, and it sometimes seems I am out there not with a man, but a fantastic, and fantastically beautiful eagle. As I move John here the sun glows through the eagle feathers. As I move him in front of the red, flat rock face the shadow of the eagle is very prominent. It is as though the eagle shadow and John the eagle are dancing with each other. Some of the excitement must have worn off a little, because I am suddenly aware that I have spent considerable time and effort climbing rocks, crossing arroyos and monitoring the position. We both decide at the same time that we need to quit.
With the glory of digital photography we head back to John?s home on the Pueblo. I am so nervous about the pictures that my hands betray a slight tremble. If these pictures are not great, there will never be a second chance. I use an apple computer, and the pictures begin to flow into a program called Aperture.
I don?t know how to describe the pictures. Everything we did worked. They are honestly magnificent. After seeing the first four of a couple of hundred pictures, John asks if I can stop showing ths pictures, When he comes back I realize he has gone to get his mother to come and see the pictures. Now I know they are every bit a special to John as they are to me.
We go through all of the pictures, and now I have an earnest desire to talk to John. The deal going in was for me to pick one favorite picture for a single print I could keep. I asked John if he felt he could pick just one picture, and he agreed that would be nearly impossible. We all try to negotiate from our strengths. I have the money to buy as many prints as I want. John could do this as well, but my pockets are deeper than his, and I had physical control over the pictures, at least for the time being.
We struck the following deal. I could have as many prints as I wanted. But I would order (and pay for) two copies of every picture I wanted. For every picture I print fr myself I will print one for John. I would not post or send electronically any of these pictures. Finally, I was to treat them as sacred. I will comply with all of these conditions.
I wish I could post a picture. All things considered, these are by far the best pictures I have ever taken. I am waiting for my prints to arrive. If they look like I expect them to, I am going to fill a wall with a series of these pictures. I am dying to show them to you. But you will have to come to New Mexico.
