Photo Ethics

I learned on my Plam Springs canyon hike this weekend the Agua Caliente tribe does not want photos of rock art taken. The cultural tour guide feared more vandalism on the sacredness of the site.I respected his wishes and did not take photos. The few Native Anerican friends I have think my photos are ok and just think I'm a massive nerd for taking pictures with pantone chip references and being artistically inspired by this precious ancient art. I always respect the sites and am careful not to step on animal homes/plants/flowers or touch the rock in any way. If any Native Americans stumbled upon my nerdy website and find anything offensive please let me know. I would never want to offend a culture my people were ignorent enough to practically wipe out! Heck, I respect anyone who cares so deeply for mother earth and its eco-balance. I hope by studing the rock art/basket weaving and other attributes of the native peoples I can somehow give something back, or at least educate others. In the meantime I will research and try to see who I can get permission from to post my pictures and take more in the future.

Modern rock art examples

I believe people want to be remembered, so what better way then a permanent drawing in a rock. Trees also serve this purpose but eventually the new growth would cover what was carved. Rocks might split and moss might grow but the longevity is still there. I notice on hikes how people carve their own petroglyphs. Here are a few examples. Perhaps people in a few thousand years might wonder why someone carved this.

This rock had a name carved into it. This tree has an eye symbol and the date 12-12-07This peace sifn was carved along with a lunch of names into a rock nook. My friend is sitting in the nook.

Oakbrook Park Chumash Interpretive Site, Thousand Oaks, CA

This is a trip I took to the Oakbrook Nature center in Thousand Oaks, CA. There is a Chumash Interpretive center that was very lovely. The curator Greywolf was really nice and informative about rock art sites. This trail showed how the natives lived 12,000 years ago. The site is located at 3290 Lang Ranch Pkwy, Thousand Oaks CA 91362

These are lights with native motifs. I though these were really cool.These are Chumash homes. This is a cave my friend Adam and I climbed up to. It's a steep hill but worth the cool formations inside. I used a light bouncer to shine light into the cave and using a tripod achieved this picture.
This is a cave we found on the trail. On the rock in front are mortars. I though this might have been rock out that has faded away. The close up shows similar symbols found at the Anzo Borrego girls site. They look like horizontal lines forming a circle.These photos below are from the museum. The Chumash used acorns to make a type of flour.

Coso Range Art Reduction Linoleum cut

This is my rock art reduction piece I though I'd share. The scene is from a photo of the Coso range full of bighorn sheep. They served as spirit guides for shamens. I chose to work in this medium because I'm carving into linoleum. In a way I'm carving just as ancient humans once carved into rock. I love the lines and texture the tools form. Below is the process showing the steps and carving I did for each layer. For the blue sky I did a jigsaw piecing with a blue gradiant. For registration I had to use a clean sky piece for each one.