Bruce Roscoe is a wonderful, gentle and caring human being. And it shows in his actions…

Here’s a link to a story about a portrait Bruce flew across the country to make to help a fellow veteran. This story helped raise money to build schools over in Vietnam and bring some healing to those who had served there. And that led to a project Bruce is starting to tell the stories of our veterans that often get lost. Many people know only of the stories they read in the newspapers and magazines but miss the personal stories and revelations of the people behind the stories.

Bruce is working to rectify that. He has begun a portrait project offering professional legacy images to veterans. The vets also share their story in video and will be featured in a new veterans portrait museum Roscoe is working to put together…

But wait! I was only telling you about Bruce’s kind heart to begin to explain a wonderful photographic weekend the Arizona Professional Photographers Association had in Monument Valley this past weekend. Through being the kind of person Bruce is he’s forged an extended family relationship with the Yazzie family in Monument Valley. In order to help the Yazzie’s raise money to help them through the winter months Bruce leads tours a few times a year for photographers to experience the Navajo Way. This is a peek into the culture of the Navajo and includes storytelling, weaving, horse run, sheep herding, traditional food and exploring the back country of Monument Valley’s private areas and more. Bruce leads these tours gratis.

I’ll be sharing some images and stories from the trip and a bit more in subsequent days. Here’s a couple for today.

horse in monument valley

From the parking lot overlook this white horse managed to find some scrap plants to snack on…

azppa past president bob zimmerlich

Past President of AZPPA Bob Zimmerlich. Is that a Lumix GH3 camera I see??

effie yazzie on horse at monument valley

Effie Yazzie on horse at Monument Valley on dune in front of the Ear of the Wind.

All in all the weekend was a roaring success thanks to Bruce. In addition Bruce had suggested photographers bring dog food to help feed the animals through the winter and the AZPPA came out in force. Almost 1000 pounds of dog food made it’s way into storage for the winter. Way to go AZPPA photographers!

These images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario lens.

More images from MV soon.

Yours in Creative Photography,         Bob