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One morning, I received a friend request from a girl in this photograph; I accepted and we began chatting about photography and how cool it would be to do a bright and vibrant photoshoot that captured the colorful community of her Navajo heritage. So we made a plan and sent a call to out to whoever wanted to participate to come out and bring their traditional dress and art. The turn out was incredible; as you can see, the women brought an array of traditional jewelry, weavings, and ceremonial instruments to the shoot. Everyone was so joyful and excited and portrayed this so naturally in front of the camera. The large rock formation jutting towards the sky in the background of the image is Shiprock, or Tsé Bitʼaʼí in Navajo. Tsé Bitʼaʼí means "winged rock" and plays a major role in Navajo mythology as a large bird that emerged from the ground and flew the Diné- 'the People'- from the North to the four corners region in the Southwest. The bird was eventually turned to stone to protect it from dying and to remind the People of its efforts.
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