Earlier this year I was assigned to photograph a story by Oklahoma Today about Oklahoma families who lived on their family’s original land allotment when Oklahoma became a state. The story, written by my friend and awesome writer Nathan Gunter, highlighted four Oklahoma families – two with native American roots and two families with white settler descendents.
First up is the photo I took of Eddy Red Eagle, an Osage Indian living on his original family land near Barnsdall. His family first left footprints on this Oklahoma soil over 1,000 years ago. This was the opening of the story.
I photographed Eddy in front of the “indian church” at the back of his property. I first shot a few portraits of him, then encouraged his grandkids to join the shoot. This church is still used for Osage ceremonies.
