Trade Goods.

When I am out among the First Nations, I might need something as a gift or swappable now and then.  Thought I would take a few of these French Opinel knives.  Great little blade- I first bought some from MSR- Mountain Safety Research, back in my rock-climbing days in the late 70s.  We saw much newer models in France with neopreme color handles, but you can't seem to get them here.  Perfect for camera bag.  These are No#8s.  Might buy the next size down.

  On Amazon.com buying cheap used copies of books about the SouthWest:" The Case of the Indian Trade,"which is about Hubbell Trading Post.  "The Witch Purge of 1878" also set at the post.  "The House of Rain" and "The Way out" along with "Finder's Keepers," all by Craig Childs.  "In Search of the Old Ones" and "The Pueblo Revolt" by David Roberts.  "Painted by a Distant Hand" about Mimbres pottery.  Canyon de Chelly: 100 Years of Painting and Photography.  "Anasazi, Ancient People of the Rock," a photo book by David Muench.  "The Book of Hopi."  A whole pile of books out of Mesa Verde, both old and new.  "House of Three Turkeys: Anasazi Redoubt," by Dave Bohn and Stephen Jett.  Quite a pile to work through, though I'm kind of a book a day guy.

The map is not the territory...

  On the other hand, you can't roll the territory up or write notes on it, so there's that.  Got on google maps and printed out a stretch of one of the most beautiful places on earth: Canyon del Muerto, Arizona.  I hope footwalk it a bit in April.  I got a good bit more of the layout in my head today, even saw some trees I had been shaded by.  Antelope House to Mummy Cave.  I expect to have a few versions of this kind of thing along when we go into the canyon.

  Hubbell Trading Post about 50 miles south.  Canyon can't be entered without a 35.00 an hour guide except in your imagination and dreams.

Lucy dogging alongside a taped-up representation of Canyon del Muerto.

Canyon de Chelly/ Canyon del Muerto complex is like the Louvre.  There is a masterpiece around every corner.  And...uh.....I love the Louvre....but CDC/CDM has better art.

  Antelope House Tours!   We used them for three 12-hour days in 2012.  They didn't know anything much,  (each guide had different names for the same sites), but were good enough if we needed to haul a babysitter around for 35.00 an hour.  Pleasant kids.  I'm sure I will book them again.

Begging to support the AIR at Hubbell.

About to start the begging to keep myself in film, Navajo guides, turkey sandwiches and gas for the Hubbell Artist-in-Residence.  200.00 gets you a big 19 inch epson print of this:  I have five ready to go.

Moonset, Shiprock, New Mexico, 1999.

Prepping for Hubbell Trading Post NHS Artist in Residence.

Miles to go and a whole lifetime of activities before I get there, but plenty to work on.  Spent the early morning trying to locate artists who had BEEN the AIRs and find out some info and just generally talk things over.  Hank Miller very helpful.  He's been on several AIRs including Yosemite in 1991.  Calls and emails out to several other folks.  Slowly building an information base.  I've got a brilliant idea for a project that I am trying to let marinate for a bit before I roll it out.  Might not be do-able but certainly worth asking about.  It would take some co-ordination with the site.

Tales From the Lens

A little feature from the Eastern Sierra Center for Photography.

Hubbell Trading Post Artist-in-Residence, April, 2014

Hubbell family residence stove-pipe.

  Thanks to some fancy letter writing by my friends and a timely application, plus....intervention of the Photography gods, I'll be at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site for a couple of weeks in April.

  They put us up in a stone hogan-like building on the grounds and you work away with a couple of public presentations tossed in.  I've been reading historical reports, ordering used books on Amazon.com, looking at topo maps and generally looking ahead.

  It's early on a Saturday and I just designed and ordered 500 business cards that say Hubbell Trading Post Artist-in-Residence.

  Hubbell is just a little short of Chinle, Arizona which is the gateway into Canyon de Chelly.  I'll be in and out of there a bit.  I've dropped into Hubbell on the way there since the early 70s.  The National Park Service still runs the trading post there so it ought to be an active place to work.  Quite a long and interesting history.  There is an old Pueblo III site on the park grounds, so it goes back a long ways.

In the family residence shooting baskets on the ceilings.

Extensive rifle rack.

Current native arts and crafts.

Katie in the kitchen.

Up in Canyon de Chelly.

  I'll be working mostly with my 5X7 and film, though I'm sure the digital will flow pretty thickly.  Driving out.