Progress, mixed with sadness...

[Charles Hess]

Spent the beautiful, but cold day yesterday hanging around the Art Museum, getting lots of nice cityscapes, with the moving sun changing colors on the glass and steel of the skyscrapers. Climbing around a beautiful(and huge) monument that has large statues and sculptures of Native Americans, it suddenly hit me that the eyes on the first statue seem to be looking forelornly at what used to be his land, now filed with traffic and congestion. I wound up going home in a funk, thinking about that part of our history(my mother was a Lenai-Lenape Indian). Hope you can see what I see in these shots.

All taken with the Contax G2, Zeiss 45/2, and Delta 100.

Image #2...left the bright blob of the late afternoon sun in the corner of the frame. Thanks, as always.

[Liz]

Your photos project your feelings right onto my screen - and I understand what you're saying, Charles, when I look at the images. There's a lot of truth in your statements too.

Your thoughts and comments are a good reminder these national holidays are not just a day off work (for some), but days to remember and reflect, and need I say, to be grateful for our country, even with all the challenges we face. There's also so much to be grateful for.

Thanks for making me think!

Liz

Spent the beautiful, but cold day yesterday hanging around the Art Museum, getting lots of nice cityscapes, with the moving sun changing colors on the glass and steel of the skyscrapers. Climbing around a beautiful(and huge) monument that has large statues and sculptures of Native Americans, it suddenly hit me that the eyes on the first statue seem to be looking forelornly at what used to be his land, now filed with traffic and congestion. I wound up going home in a funk, thinking about that part of our history(my mother was a Lenai-Lenape Indian). Hope you can see what I see in these shots.

All taken with the Contax G2, Zeiss 45/2, and Delta 100.

Image #2...left the bright blob of the late afternoon sun in the corner of the frame. Thanks, as always.

[walterick]

Hope you can see what I see in these shots.

Charles, what a nice post.

Yes, I often feel what you are feeling. I love nature so intently that it often saddens me to look upom what we've done with her. I like the shot from the buffalo's perspective - it gives me the feeling of forelornment/sorrow. The buffalo was a sacred creature in Native American beliefs, yes?

The Native Americans I often think of as highly evolved peoples - spiritually. They never much anything for granted. Always in reverence of the Great Spirit, always got Permission before taking form the earth. I think we'd have a pretty good world had the early Eurpoeans/settlers ingratiated with them rather than warring with them. But... that's just me.

I apprecaite your post, Charles. I hope some of my nature posts might institute such feelings in the future.

Regards,
Rick

[natatbeach]

I found the first image to hit me the hardest...and as I read your post that feeling deepened.

the saddest part about the victimization of Native Americans, is that it's still a situation that awaits restitution and a raping of a culture that still awaits to be rectified. Promises made and never fulfilled and lives upheaved and never allowed to rest.

I was engaged to a guy ( Navajo) and having spent two years with his family and with his grandmother in particular who still lives on a reservation....it was very difficult not to see how actions affect a whole nation even centuries down the line...how even if they are faced with choices those choices are either to leave what you know and hold true and "prosper" or stick to your beliefs and way of life and struggle till your last breathe.

And society's attitude is to tell them to "get over it" or to commercialize and profit off of a tragedy.

I can't comment on the politics but I can comment on the spirit and how difficult it is to restore a broken spirit that is passed down from generation to generation.

beautifully portrayed and very moving shots