Cutting whale for the Thanksgiving feast

This is maktak from the whale Larry Aiken lost his cell phone for when he threw the harpoon into it. Larry is here in the Iñupiat Heritage Center too, along with his captain George Adams, Wayne Toovak and other crewmembers cutting bowhead for the Thanksgiving feast.

I was going to use a picture of Larry cutting with these men as as a carry-over from breakfast, but I think I need to be sure the whaler women also get credit they so greatly deserve. On the right is Diana Martin, Iñupiat Heritage Center Museum Curator. She is an expert on the weapons, tools, clothing and other implements from her culture reaching back into time immemorial. As curator, she watches over and cares for the Heritage Center's growing collection of artifacts. Today, she has also been watching over her daughter Katherine who she has been teaching the Iñupiat ways of food preparation. She has also taught her how to prepare the backstrap from caribou into the superstrong, waterproof thread used to sew ugruk seal skins into the boat cover for the umiak used in the spring hunt.

Text added at 5:40 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 56 and counting.

Gabe and I do simultaneous selfies together beneath the whale

It is 5:05 PM and the Iñupiat Heritage Center has closed but there are a few people still lingering in the office and I have a couple of minutes to borrow their wireless and make this quick post. A little bit ago my young and talented friend filmmaker Gabe Tegoseak stopped by to return a battery and battery charger I had loaned him and Dustinn Craig for a short satirical movie Gabe created and Dustinn is helping him with. Gabe took a picture of us together out in the main hall of the Iñupiat Heritage Center and I took a picture of his camera with us on it as he did so. I got the background in better focus then I got us, but that's okay because we all live in the background anyway.

I might note that one of the best joys I get as a photographer is when I walk into someone's house and see one or more of my pictures hanging on the wall. I get that joy when I walk into this place, as I am greeted not only by the big whale hanging overhead but by photos of elders I took in the early 90s, maybe a couple from the late 80s. Most of them are gone now. Viky Solomon, heritage Center receptionist strolled through just at the moment Gabe and I took our pictures together.

Text posted at 6:03 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 55 and counting.

Elders past and the whale; children present and connected

One of the ironies I face in keeping a blog is the times when I am out and about shooting the

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