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Charleston, S.C.-based automotive photographer Richard Steinberger along with his wife Heather, decided to paint a picture of Indian Country. Noticing that most photographs and stories surrounding Indian reservations were focusing on poverty and domestic issues, Richard and Heather hoped to show a different side of the reservation communities. Richard and Heather joined forces with photographer Matt Normann to create a coffee book showcasing the beauty of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.
Together, Heather, Richard, and Matt are shooting and editing a wide array of photographs that showcase and celebrate the beauty of Cheyenne River’s varied landscapes, natural resources, communities, traditions, and people.
To discover that beauty and to appreciate the stories that run deeply within this land and its people, we need to first open our eyes, and then, open our hearts.
– Heather
The three plan on incorporating a mixture of fine art images of the Cheyenne Reservation throughout the seasons in the book. The photos will then be accompanied by words written by Cheyenne River youth, including essays, fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Heather explains,
Once we have a body of work from which to choose, I’ll be selecting excerpts, editing the work and pairing each piece of writing with a specific image. Each photo will be accompanied by an original piece of writing, giving these young people a special opportunity to share their home, community and culture with countless others. The book and the website together will give them a voice.
Once the book is published, a portion of the process will go to supporting Cheyenne River Youth Project’s youth and family services. The photographers also hope to make a small selection of limited-edition prints available for purchase to help out as well.
When we unveil the finished book, we’d also like to launch a traveling fine-art exhibition that would incorporate the book’s images, each paired with its designated piece of writing. We’d love to see the Cokata Wiconi Teen Center host the premiere, then the show could travel to different venues around the country.
– Richard
Richard, Heather and Matt plan to continue photographing the Cheyenne River throughout December and then on into Spring and Summer. Richard will be focusing on still life and landscape photography with Matt handling portraiture. According to Richard,
On the landscape side, we’re looking for areas of striking natural beauty or of historical and cultural significance. On portrait side, we’d like to show those who are making a difference here. That could include people who work with specific government or not-for-profit organizations, community volunteers, police officers, firefighters, teachers and EMTs. It also could include people who play important roles in Lakota culture, who actively keep certain traditions alive and teach them to the younger generations.