Pat Trotter

In no time at all the Lighthouse International Film Festival was in full swing with films being shown at 4 locations.  I was assigned to the Surf City Firehouse where the shorts were being shown, plus one or two features.  The photos are taken in front of the “step and

No sooner had I arrived back from my trip west than it was time for the first dress rehearsal at the Surflight Theater.  It felt good to be back in the theater photographing the show – and it was a good one to be sure!  The cast and crew put

The last two days of the journey were spent on the Southern Ute Reservation in Ignacio Colorado. It was a marked contrast to the Standing Rock and Pine Ridge reservations.  Clearly, this is a prosperous tribe as evidenced by the homes and ranches that dot the landscape.  The Utes have

Our final trek was up to the Chimney Rock National Monument, an off the beaten path archaeological site at the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado. Designated a National Monument by President Barack Obama in 2012, its most recognizable features are the twin pinnacles rising above

The next stop on our sojourn through Native lands was in Colorado at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.  The dunes are home to many plants and animals used for generations by the Dine (Navaho) people and are sacred to them. Formed roughly  440,000 years ago, they are

We continued on our journey through Indian Country passing through parts of the Badlands. Looking out over the formations in the Badlands is breathtaking and at the same time ominous. It is difficult to imagine the natural forces that created this maze of eroded land covering 379 square miles. It

As we continued on our quest to listen to the native voices we ventured onto the Pine Ridge Reservation, the poorest county in the United States and the site of the Wounded Knee massacre.  On the top of a dusty hill just off the highway there is a long narrow