Monday, May 21, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Farewell to a Firm Friend.
His absence has left a void in our lives, a steady companion always. His passing in the early spring has not gotten easier with the coming of summer's green grasses.
Adventures were his specialty, trips to the lakes edge each afternoon, bike rides, backpack trips -- this was his territory.
Beautiful, adventurous soul. He will always be missed.
Eddy Scout...
Photographs © Jeremy Wade Shockley 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Drum brings home 13 SPJ awards.
Staff Report
The Southern Ute Drum
The Southern Ute Drum made its best showing ever in a
journalism contest in April, winning 13 awards — including five first-place
prizes — in the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual Top of the Rockies.
Top of the Rockies is the largest regional journalism competition
west of the Mississippi, open to all newspaper, radio and TV outlets in four
states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Last year the Drum won five Top of the Rockies awards: a
first place, a second place, and three thirds. This year, the staff nearly
tripled its take. Editor Ace Stryker traveled to the Denver Press Club on
Friday, April 13 to accept the awards.
Composition Technician
Robert L. Ortiz won a first-place award for news photography for his coverage
of the opening of the Southern Ute Cultural Center & Museum, and a
second-place award for feature photography.
Photographer/reporter Jeremy Wade Shockley won two first-
place awards: one for feature photography for his coverage of the Durango &
Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad’s annual Southern Ute Heritage Train, and one
for sports photography for his coverage of last summer’s Rocky Mountain State
Games in Colorado Springs. He also won second and third place in news
photography, third place in feature photography, and second place in
single-story news reporting for his article on last year’s National Congress of
American Indians annual convention.
Photograph Jeremy Wade Shockley/The Southern Ute Drum
Between Ortiz and Shockley, the Drum swept the news and
feature photography categories, which include all newspapers with circulation
under 10,000 in the four-state area.
Stryker won five awards, including a single-handed sweep of
politics general reporting with first, second and third places. Stryker also
earned first place for public service for his ongoing coverage of Southern Ute
elections, and third place in education general reporting.
The staff has
also submitted entries for the annual Native American Journalists Association
competition, the winners of which will be announced later this summer.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Often the most difficult images to capture are the ones we see everyday...
Photographs Jeremy Wade Shockley/The Southern Ute Drum
I pulled off of the winding county road that leads north as the last rays of light seemed to be holding on to the color of the thin ice sheathing the surface of Vallecito reservoir.
These are the frames we have to make for ourselves, perhaps even stepping back a little in order to document our immediate surroundings...
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Spring Celebration - 48th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow returns to Durango, Colorado.
Photographs Jeremy Wade Shockley/The Southern Ute DrumI shot my first powwow at Fort Lewis College over five years ago, immediately gaining an invitation to make pictures later that year in the picturesque Red Rocks Park during the Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial. My goal was to document cultures in the region where I grew up having returned to the area as a working professional, seeking out long term projects, assignments.
It was the portfolio from that summer that opened the door to my current position as staff photographer for the Southern Ute Drum newspaper.
We just published a double powwow section last week that included recent images from Hozhoni Days, as I have been back to cover this small, social powwow every year since that first. Striving each time to come away with something that will set my work apart from previous years…
Photographs Jeremy Wade Shockley/The Southern Ute Drum
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Traditions live on in Buffalo Harvest.
By Jeremy Wade Shockley
The spirit of the harvest is to promote food sovereignty and education under the guidance of the Buffalo Council and participating tribal elders.
“It really strengthens us as students,” said Amoretta Pringle, president of the Buffalo Council.
The three-day ceremony included a sweat lodge, prayer, bison harvest, and distribution of medicine, finishing in Durango on Sunday with a presentation by longtime Native American activist Russell Means, who voiced the importance of truth and sovereignty to his audience.
This year’s ceremony coincides with the 100th year anniversary of Fort Lewis College, according to organizers.
In recent years, the Buffalo Harvest has taken place at the site of the historic Fort Lewis Indian School near Hesperus, Colo. This year, the event moved to a neighboring ranch house owned and operated by Bill and Virginia Crangle. The Crangles have made Hesperus their home since 1974, and have hosted the Buffalo Council on numerous occasions, giving them a place to perform the ceremonies.
Manuelito “Chief” Garbiso is one of the more recent members to the council and a Fort Lewis alumnus.
“Basically everything goes back to the community,” he said, explaining that the meat will be parceled out to families who qualify, and whatever remains will be used for fundraising events, cooking the bison meat to benefit the community.
The young bison was trucked in from Oklahoma. Raised on a ranch, he was culled from a herd numbering in the hundreds. Michael Mithlo, owner of the company Mighty Good Bison, has delivered a buffalo to the council for the traditional harvest on numerous occasions.
Mithlo, a pragmatic and knowledgeable man with a clear understanding of the butchering process, is of the Comanche and Chiricahue Apache nations. He said it’s good to keep a few bulls in together and let them fight, because it helps build testosterone. He also noted that thick meat on the ribs is a sign of a healthy animal with strong genes.
Nathan Strong Elk was one of a handful of Southern Utes who attended the annual harvest, offering a blessing over the animal once it arrived. Strong Elk emphasized the importance of calming the animal to prepare it for harvest after such a long journey.
The sound of drums could be heard around the early morning campfires, mingling with the smell of burning cedar in the air and the singing of the young participants who would soon harvest the buffalo.
A pair of gunshots broke the still morning silence. Members of the Buffalo Council and their helpers began to cut and clean the great bison, heaving his mass onto tarps.
While the men used knives and tools to section the meat, women worked in teams to separate the vital organs and entrails, each with its own place and purpose, its own destination. Practical efficiency was evident in the collaborative process.
Neighboring dogs became less shy, stealing away with the occasional discard. The winter sun began to warm the ground as expert hands worked in traditional ways.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Classic Street Photography: A Voyeuristic Approach to Metro Denver - 5pm.
Photographs © Jeremy Wade Shockley 2012.
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