LATE FIND

Medicine Rocks at sunset, Montana 2020

Streamlining and maintaining my photo library is always an ongoing project, especially during winter time. Some of our images just beg to be processed and we publish them immediately, and that’s great. Others need some time before we discover the potential of the image. And last not least there are always photos, mostly older ones, that can’t hold the quality standards I have today and will just be treated with the delete key of the computer keyboard.

With today’s photo I go back to 2020. Medicine Rocks in eastern Montana was a mesmerizing place to pitch the tent and inhale the feeling of the beautiful Wild West. It has been a sacred place for native people since hundreds of years and it bothers me how some individuals disrespect the fact and carve, whatever they want, into the soft stones of Medicine Rocks. I usually never alter the context of my photos, but here I admit, the stupid carving of a name into the rocks was eliminated while processing the final image.

It was a beautiful evening and the setting sun put a nice glow on some rocks, while others were already in the shade. In one of my blog posts about Medicine Rocks from October 2020 I posted already a color version of this image. So this is clearly a “group 2” picture, because I needed some time to discover the potential for a black and white version. You may not agree but I like it actually better.

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #2

Winniwissa Falls, Pipestone Creek, Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota

Back from another trip to Dallas, TX I finally find some time to work on my photos from our travel through Minnesota.

Long before I moved to the US the life, traditions, and history of the native people has always interested me. I read many books about the Indians of North America in my younger years. Pipestone National Monument has been on the list to visit since quite some time. This location was the preferred source of pipestone among Plains tribes. The soft stone (catlinite) was quarried by Indians since a long time, possibly 2000 years. Still today Indians quarry the pipestone during late summer and fall. This is done by hard manual labor with sledge hammers and wedges. The red stone is under a very hard layer of quartzite that needs to be removed first. The sheets of catlinite are lifted from the pit and cut into smaller blocks, from which the pipes are carved.

A trail leads the visitor through the park, to old and active quarries, to quartzite cliffs, along Pipestone Creek, and to a waterfall. We visited Pipestone NM on a sunny and very windy day. Dealing with harsh light and high contrast was the challenge for anyone using a camera.

Pipestone is a sacred place and quarrying is accomplished with respect for the Earth. Prayer flags can be found at many locations.

Detail of quartzite cliffs

The Three Maidens boulders, American Indians traditionally leave food and tobacco beside these stones in return for this land’s gift of stone.

(source used: Pipestone National Monument brochure)