| Interacting with the people of Jemez Pueblo and feeling their emotion, plus witnessing how much this event meant to them, was moving for me. I was continually reminded that this was a sacred and serious ceremony. The people were truly relieved that their ancestors were finally being returned to their original resting place. That kind of emotion in such a large group is very unusual to witness.
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For some reason the hotels in Santa Fe, where I was staying, were almost booked solid. I managed to find a room, but the hotel couldn’t guarantee that I could stay in the same room every night. So every day I had to call the hotel from wherever I was shooting to check on availability. This went on for about four nights. If I had to relocate, I had to run back to the hotel and move my equipment and clothing out. Ultimately I decided to leave things packed to avoid that and to allow hotel personnel to move everything for me. Fortunately they only moved me once, but I never knew from day to day. After a long day of working, it’s nice to know that you have a place to take a shower and go to bed.
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Before the procession into Pecos began, I scouted out a great location where the road went up a hill so I could get a nice shot at the end of the march. That morning I started shooting pretty far down the road as the people were getting prepared for the march. But the road was blocked to automobile traffic once the procession started, so I had to race back to the hill on foot. I grabbed my cameras and ran about a mile (1.6 kilometers). I run routinely so it wasn’t that terrible for me, except that I was fully clothed and wearing about 20 or 30 pounds (9 or 14 kilograms) of camera equipment. |
