The Raven in Native American Cultures

Of all the wildlife I see every day, ravens top the list. They are everywhere these large, inky-blue feathered magnificent birds. They are around my house, atop the roof, on the trees nearby. One even came onto the porch and stole my dog’s bone-shaped biscuit. Then sat there teasing the poor dog, holding the bone in its beak.

As I eagerly learn about the many Native American cultures, ravens also stand out in all the stories and tales told by Native American tribes from the Northwest Cost (Haida, Kwakiutl among others) to the northern Athabascan tribes, namely the Tanaina.  It is practically impossible to see totem poles without a raven figure; and no story teller would tell a story without mentioning the raven as the magical creature that can metamorphose into human or other animal shapes to perform its tricks but also help the world be a better place. Indeed, the raven is known as the master trickster, a glutton who gets whatever it desires (like my dog’s bone!), and a hero.

As I read the mythology and tales about ravens from different tribes, I find this majestic bird more of a hero than trickster. For example, the Northwest tribes believe that originally humans were hiding in a giant clam shell and that they were discovered by the raven that liberated them from that shell. Then it brought food (berries and salmon) to help humans get strength and prosper. But this inky-blue bird did not only help the humans. According to the Sioux, there was a white raven that enjoyed warning the buffalo when hunters were getting close. And, as tales go, a Shaman was asked to punish the trickster – so he caught the bird and threw it into a fire. And that is how the raven got black.

… I was surprised that the raven, as a trickster and a hero, was also recognized in ancient Sumeria and maintains its reputation in today’s Alaska. The metamorphosis of this bird, its ability to turn itself into a human, another animal or even a speck of tree leaf makes it the perfect figure for teaching children and adults about adaptation. But what really stand out is perhaps the moral lesson one shares regarding the desirability or not of the raven’s ability to cheat, trick and tease often for personal greed regarding gluttony.  But the most revered act of the raven seems the mythology about it bringing light to the dark world of ours by stealing the sun! For such a deed, perhaps all his trickster and gluttony traits can be forgiven….

…. The human side of the raven, as I learn from Native American tribal cultures, fascinates me. I do not think about the macabre and noir poem by Edgar Allan Poe. I do not feel intruded when a raven steals my dog’s bone and sits nearby to tease him. And I do not mind when a couple of the genus Corvus sit upon the roof of my house and call sounding like screaming goats. Instead, I am grateful to see the important figure of many Native American tales in person.

Furthermore, as a street photographer, I was eager to capture a moment of interaction between a raven and a human. The opportunity materialized during an art show when a woman was introducing her 10 year old raven to the public. I asked to take a picture of the two of them, and in B&W, it was the way I wanted to show it. Her night-black hair and pleasant smile harmonized well with the look in the raven’s eyes.

Was it the look of a trickster or a super-hero?

October 24, 2015

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2015

Bryce Canyon, Utah: What would a Street Photographer Do Around Rocks?

On a recent trip to Utah, decided to re-visit Bryce Canyon.  Thirty years have passed since my only encounter with these magnificent natural amphitheaters that extent more than 20 miles within the Bryce Canyon National Park. Actually the “canyon” is not a true canyon but a natural and vast depression formed when a headward erosion excavated rust-color pinnacles called hoodoos giving the area multiple amphitheater-like shapes. This region of Utah was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s, and the canyon named after Ebenezer Bryce. Today it is part of a National Park covering about 56 thousand square miles.

The canyon is spectacular and my vintage photographic equipment could not even attempt to capture the vastness of the area. There are many aerial pictures of the canyon on the Internet and worth seeing. But, as my 1970s Nikon Nikkor 105mm manual lens was anxious to get some action, I did click a few times. Here is a B&W capture of a minuscule segment of an amphitheater, taken from the rim of the canyon, when the sun hit the tops of the hoodoos.

Yet, as a street photographer, I was not interested in taking pictures of rocks, no matter how grandiose and awe-inspiring they were. Instead I was hoping to find a moment where people and rocks may, together, tell a story. After a long hike into the bottom of the canyon, all I saw were people, speaking the various languages of our planet, clicking incessantly on their digital cameras as they walked around.  I have rarely encountered a time when so many people were so non-peculiar in their behavior… It seemed like they all had a digital camera stuck to their faces and clicking so feverishly as if the rocks were about to move or leave the National park!

… But I always stay alert for when someone would give me a second or two to tell my story. And that happened unexpectedly, as always. I heard someone running behind me and in Mandarin Chinese (I recognized a few words) expressing aloud her awe of the setting.

As she ran passed me, I realized that she was holding her smartphone and describing what she was seeing. Clearly she was videotaping and commenting for a documentary she would share with friends after her trip. And to make the moment more “authentic”, she was wearing a cowgirl hat and attire…

Then, at the narrow passage between two hoodoos, she decided to take selfies. That was my story – a Chinese woman, wearing cowgirl attire, taking selfies in Bryce Canyon. The light was soft, so I opened the lens to 2.8 and set the speed to 1/30 second. 

I assume this was a “western” posture of sorts. Maybe from “Saturday Night Fever” or the mechanical bull ride from “An Officer and a Gentleman”.  Somehow her posture harmonized with the curvature of the rocks and the narrow passage, especially given the tonal range of B&W film.

But the real moment came when she lay down on the rock and took a selfie.  This time my full open lens gave the softness I was hoping for to blend human and Cenozoic-age rock curves seamlessly.

… So, I may have been the only one in the thousands of people at Bryce Canyon that day who did not take pictures of the rocks. Instead, I was happy to have found that Chinese cowgirl who took selfies with rocks….

October 12, 2015

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2015

Cape Town, South Africa Revisited

Previously I posted a couple of pictures from Cape Town, South Africa. It was more a photography posting than one about social life, as I had pushed the limits of the 100 ASA film in taking contre-jour pictures with vintage cameras. Here is that link:

http://liveingray.blogspot.com/2013/09/cape-town-south-africa.html

Upon revisiting the question of street photography in Cape Town, I chose to show more of its social dynamic.

Cape Town is at the junction of two oceans -- the Indian and Atlantic oceans.  The warm waters of the former meet the cold waves of the Atlantic at Cape Point, an hour’s drive from Cape Town. Cape Town is surrounded by pristine beaches upon which multi-million dollar houses hang, sometimes with a seeming serendipity.  The most picturesque beach is Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town.  Given its location, this beach is sheltered from the ocean winds and home to a breeding colony of over 2000 endangered African Penguins. I did not expect penguins in Africa, but these flightless and small penguins are quite unique.  The first surprise is to hear their call: it is like a donkey’s call, and historically these Penguins were called “Jackass” Penguin!  When I learned about this I thought about the desert hare in the U.S Southwest that are still called “jackrabbits” given their donkey-like ears…

Here is the beach from a distance:

And the African Penguin close -up.

The social diversity in Cape Town is rich in arts, modes of expression, clothing, and food. The Atlantic Seaboard has some of the most expensive real estate in South Africa, especially in the area of Camps Bay where one finds the most high-priced mansions in South Africa. In 2014 a residential unit in Camps Bay was valued to around 2 million $US. In contrast, The Southern Suburbs, along the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, is more cosmopolitan.  English and Afrikaans are spoken there and one can find a spectrum of culinary sophistication. Indeed, the Constantia area, within the City of Cape Town, is a wine-growing region with some exquisite local wines: the taste of the Petite Sirah I tried there is still vivid in my taste bud memory!  But one can also find more “down-to-earth” food with some asking. Here is the meat selection in a small eatery: the game meat (Kudu, Eland and Warthog) were imported from nearby Zimbabwe. Note the "Vegetable Stirfry" for those who want to stay away from Warthog and African elk....!

But Cape Town is primarily a fishing “big village”.  Small fishing boats come to the harbor around noon and sell their fish to the highest bidder in a popular fish market. This fisherman had experienced a lot of the ocean winds in his old boat!

And here is the fish market: most of the fish was sold within 30 minutes.

… There is very sparse history about the region’s original residents.  The first mention of the Cape Town area was by the Portuguese explorer Bartolommeo Dias in 1486. Most of us in the West know about the recorded sighting of the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco da Gama in 1497. Given the importance of this sighting for maritime commerce across and between the two oceans, the Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, French and English ships established trade routes to the Indies in the 1600’s passing by Cape Town and dropping anchor in Table Bay.

I did not focus on taking pictures of buildings and edifices representing the passage of colonial cultures.  Instead, I wanted one picture that represents the city, some of its social profile, and away from the millionaires’ mansions.  So I chose this one.

October 3, 2015

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2015