Desert Tango

Snow is great if you get to play in it  and then head home to a city where all of your needs are a quick jaunt to the store, like I do. But living in a remote area when a big storm hits can make daily life challenging for some, especially on distant parts of the reservation. The Ramah Navajo reservation has seen it’s share of powder this winter, and the resulting mud from the melting of all that white stuff creates access problems. The chapter house has been delivering loads of supplies of food, water, firewood and hay to residents who either live on inaccessible roads, or are elderly and unable to make the journey into town.

Like many newspaper assignments, this one came down the pipes at the last minute. I believe it said something like “Get a photo of the water tanker at Ramah Market”; not really the most exciting photo idea for an impact story about the area’s recent bout with winter weather. Luckily, some of the information I received was incorrect, which forced me to track down a chapter official who put me into contact with his crew of guys delivering hay. So I ended up spending a couple of hours  delivering hay and mud bogging through remote backcountry on the Ramah Navajo reservation. Kevin Chatto and his crew were working 12-14 hour days, sometimes off the clock, trying to get hay and do welfare checks to old grandma’s,  grandpa’s and families stuck in the mud way out in the middle of nowhere.

It turned out to be a really gratifying assignment, I only wish I had had more time, but the daily newspaper deadline was looming and I had to leave.

A recent trip to the Ramah Navajo Reservation found me photographing students in a summer youth employment program butchering a sheep as part of them learning traditional skills. The Navajo have a saying; “Sheep is Life”. In the traditional setting, sheep is one of their primary sources of food.

This is not the first time I’ve photographed this, in fact was my fourth, but this time it was interesting because for some of the kids, it was their first time actually killing and cleaning a live animal. No one seemed to have any qualms about this, and I admit that slitting the throat of that sheep takes a little more courage than what I have at the moment (although I’ve killed many an animal in my rabbit breeding days, mostly so they could die humanely).

It was one of those magnificent trips that makes you realize how truly grand it is to live in the state of New Mexico as well as to be a photojournalist in this place. The drive getting there via Highway 53, is beautiful. Lots of stuff to see here; El Morro National Monument, El Malpais (The Badlands), and Cibola National Forest are just a few.

And of course the people. They are the reason I do this. Wonderful, kind and generous, the people are what makes New Mexico what it really is.

For those that are wondering, the Ramah Navajo Reservation is an offshoot of the main Navajo Reservation, which encompasses a very large portion of Arizona and New Mexico. Located southeast-ish of the main reservation, the land is part of some open and desolate country.

I’ll be heading back that way next week for the annual Ramah Navajo Fair. I made some great photos when I was there two years ago, hopefully the luck and light will be with me again!