ShawnSmith71

Thank you. I can't wait to begin your Masters of Photography class. I'm blessed with equipment (gifts from my wife), passion and patience - I just need guidance and practice.

I'm finding so much commonality, and incredible inspiration, from you and Paul through your Sealegacy videos. It's helping me navigate these questions of myself, and think about how I can best move forward for me and my passions and work - what I have to offer.

In learning from indigenous/First Peoples I've met the more authentic part of myself - the one who feels at home tending, being a guardian (not an owner), and being in relationship with the nonhuman world that is grounded in the 5R's. It's put me at a crossroads in my professional career, though.

Everything you wrote completely resonates with me, and has been my experience. Since I was a child, I knew and "felt" I was part of the nonhuman world around me, but I wasn't raised in a cultural setting that supported that. It took a lifetime to learn this was not "in my head", but real.

How long did it take you to master the technical aspects of photography?

Yes, guardianship. And "tending". And being in relationship guided by the 5 R's - have you come across cultures that refer to the 5 R's? Relationship. Respect. Reverence. Reciprocity. Responsibility.

Hello Cristina. Thank you for your time and insights today. I'm curious, when talking with indigenous individuals/communities about your work do you find that they use the term "conservation" -- or even understand it -- in the same way you're using it? For 25 years I've dedicated my career to land-based "conservation" -- and I would say in the last 10 years, as I grow more intimate with my indigenous ancestors (Mesoamerican and Cherokee), I find myself using that word less.