SaxmanTotems Photo

Photographer’s Note

I couldn't resist this photo of the totems in Saxman, a first Nation community. I think a close-up would be a better shot, so I'll post one in the workshop.

Southeast Alaska is identified as Tlingit territory; however, tribal members elected in the 2006 Ketchikan Indian Council tribal election also included Tsimshian from around Prince Rupert in mainland British Columbia, and Haida from the Queen Charlotte Islands also in BC.

Although there is much talk of the stories the totem poles tell, the only actual story I could find was by 10-year-olds from Vancouver Washigton. On another of their pages they also dicuss the sybolism of the images. http://library.thinkquest.org/5160/salmonbearravenframes.html

I found was able to identify some of the images fromn a Hudson Bay website. The small red figure with his hand stuck in a mouth is called the oyster boy but I don't know his story.

The funny looking short guy with the tall hat was comissioned during Lincoln's presidency.

MLINES, xuaxo, robertosalguero, scobert has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Giorgio (8692) 2006-02-03 3:24

- The color and light are splendid, it's a beautiful good place, it's not easy in such a so tourist place to make a good photograph, here, it is the case, cheer!
giorgio

MLINES (10872) 2006-02-05 4:28

Patricia, Good composition to show us these unusual Totem poles. These look to be very good examples, freshly painted and all. Good message too.

xuaxo (5713) 2006-02-24 1:52

Hi Patricia
Very nice. But, are these totems the real thing, or just for tourists' photos?
In any case, an interesting thing.
Francisco

robertosalguero (110) 2006-10-19 4:17

Hi Pat. I hope you don't mind but I decided to check your first pictures and coment on them. You have some really good pictures in from the beginning. Anyway, this one is nice because totems have always been a favourite of mine. I really enjoy the history behind them and the excellent carving skills needed to create these interesting figures out of tree trunks. The background in the picture looks very nice bacuse you have some nature, but what catches my attention the most is the nicely decorated building. Very good perspective and very nice picture. Cheers :-)

Roberto

scobert (5333) 2008-04-01 7:16

Hi Pat,
These totem poles sure bring back memories of my childhood. When I moved to Alaska from Colorado, I found these carvings to be fascinating! When I arrived at the Anchorage airport I was fascinated with the Inuit artifacts and the huge taxidermied figure of the standing, growling Alaskan Brown bear. I have discovered, through my Trek Earth experience, that the Inuit and Native American culture are smong the least understood of all of the international travel themes. We need to educate people about this. Nice work and excellent notes!
Stan