High in the Arctic !! Eskimo....

Majik Imaje · April 13, 2007

Inupiat / Inupaq Eskimo Point Hope Alaska !

Point Hope Alaska is the oldest continually inhabited settlement or village in all of North America.

Hello.. My name is David, I am from Boston, I was working in Alaska, at the airport, my company sent me to this tiny Eskimo village for just 3 weeks, to wire some construction camps. When the job was finished, I quit the company and stayed.

Point Hope - Tikigaq A small whaling village of only 700 people 200 miles above the Arctic circle in the Northwest portion of the state.

Nothing, but empty barren tundra,for hundreds of miles, Life here can accurately be traced back many thousands of years to this one spot of land.

We live out on the ocean ice pack for two months or longer, when we hunt the mighty bowhead whale. The women use tents a 1/2 > 3/4 a mile back from the lead opening where the hunters wait, watch, and sleep, no tents for the hunters. It is 40 below zero and colder and very windy.

waiting, watching, eating, sleeping, this is home for the next two months. five miles out on the Ocean Ice pack. 700 people move out here to live and hunt for food.

come along and learn the eskimo way...!

18 WHALING CREWS are spaced out along the ocean Ice pace 1/2 - 3/4 miles apart. some families stay together out on the ice. But the entire community is spread out some 10 miles along the narrow lead opening on the ice pack. Home Sweet Frozen Home.

How do you get delicious fresh drinking water, miles out on the ocean ice ?
No electricity, No plumbing, no place to go.. .. sit, wait, watch and learn from the comfort of your own home, how we live and the many "TRICKS" we employ to survive in this extremly harsh and unforgiving climate at the top of the world.

The lead opening, is starting to open, this is where the whales and other animales will migrate further north. We wait and watch & wait.

Hot meals 3 - 4 times a day, plenty of fresh hot donuts, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and plenty of good food. but how do you get or obtain delicious fresh drinking water way out here in the middle of the ocean ?

The women ( 3-4 ) in each crew, 8 hunters plus the Umailiq, (whaling captain), are fed three - four times a day. This is our favorite time of year. Whaling. We melt snow for water. for washing cups, thermoses etc. but for drinking water, snow is yuk !

I have lots of incredible photos and bizarre true stories of life in the frozen north of Alaska.

Daisy Della Fay Koonuk Age 3. In 1983, United Bank of Alaska offered me 100K for the complete rights to this image. I am so happy I took the advice of some close friends in the Art World that convinced me to say NO!

Kathy Rock, age 10, I spent 1/2 hour with this young girl, out on the ocean ice. she is sitting on a snowmachine or snowmobile, the temp is 40 below zero.

Everytime I would bring the camera up, she would smile. I said NO! Please don't do that. I want you to look past me, I want you to pretend I am not even here. It took a while but I got the exact look I wanted -=[click]=- I only exposed one frame of film!:rolleyes

DavidTO · April 13, 2007

That's some very cool stuff! How lucky you are to be a part of that way of life. I'd be interested to see/hear more.

Stan · April 13, 2007

Those are wonderful images. Thank you and welcom to Dgrin. You did not say how long ago you quit your job.

Stan

Elaine · April 13, 2007

Very interesting pics and story! Certainly not the usual! Would like to see and read more...

Elaine

wxwax · April 13, 2007

Fantastic, David!

Thanks for a great look at a rare lifestyle.

Point Hope seems very vulnerable to waves. I had the chance to visit Shishmaref, which I'm sure you know is being eaten up by storms, as the sea ice offers less and less protection as a result of climate change. Is the same thing happening to point Hope? That thin strip of land looks so much like Shish from the air.

Majik Imaje · April 14, 2007

Thank you ALL .. .. .. ..
DaveTO, Elane, Stan, Wxwax..

I promise you some bizarre "text" and incredible photographs.

I was sent to this village for just 3 weeks, that was almost 30 years ago, and I am STILL HERE.

I fell totally in love with the lifestyle, culture, the people, The Arctic !

I have been honored to have been invited on 5 whale hunts when I lived here in the 80's. On my first whale hunt (1982) I had no water, none, I had to melt snow, to obtain the necessary precious water to mix chemicals, and develop vericolor type S professional film. Sixty rolls 6 x 7 format Mamiya RB 67.

20 below zero, is a wonderful day, children play outside all day long. Out on the ocean ice, they play out for weeks on end at these sub zero temps.

The women do all the cooking in the tents, which are located some 1/2 mile back, on much safer ice. There is always the danger of the ice breaking in back of the tent areas also. Anything can happen out here, and sharp eyes are needed at night time, when the women go to sleep in that tent.

A "Boyer" is in charge of that tent at night when the women go to sleep.

His job is to keep that homemade woodstove fired up, just right, by adding wood, "sicpan" (seal oil), which is EXTREMLY FLAMMABLE, his job is to chop wood, all night long by himself, attend that stove, melt snow for washing dishes, thermoses, "make fresh water for drinking".. and make coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and get those thermoses down to the lead opening for the hunters, his chores also include WATCHING the wind, WATCH the ice, for cracks, BE ALERT for POLAR BEARS, now.. your in good hands.. lie down and go to sleep, and hand your bic lighter, and your matches over to this "BOYER" WHO IS... three years old!

IMAGINE THAT !!! no you can't imagine that. THIS IS COMMON in the Arctic. Where do we get the wood ?? We gather it in the late summer on the beaches, we haul it down here.

It takes a whole year, just to get ready for whailng, The entire Inupiat way of life, revolves around the bowhead whale. NOTHING, not one scrap, is ever wasted.

Life out on the ocean ice, is the most impressive thing I have ever beheld in my life, this impresses me more, than anything I have ever witnesses or heard about, All this work, chopping a trail through miles of ocean ice to move skin boats, equipment, tents, supplies, an entire communtiy moves and acts as ONE out here on the ice.

The hunters sleep outside, no tents, for two months! 30-60 below zero with vicious winds! non-stop !

Midnight in may, home sweet home, for two months, We move out here in April, and we wait, watch, listen 24 /7 doesn't anyone sleep ? NO !

Being in sunlight 24 hours a day, triggers a solar powered cell, and it is very easy to stay awake, alert, for 3 days or more, when tired and you need rest, just lie back, right there on that sled, and rest for just a few hours and your good to go, for another three days, or longer!

Authentic Mukluks (eskimo boot) caribou sides, walrus hide bottoms. Extremely warm, light as a feather, This is one method of cooking a fish when a hunter goes out on a long journey, put a fish wrapped into the boot, the body heat will "cook" that fish while he walks for hours!

Believe me, when it is pulled out much later, @ 30 below and opened, it is 'STEAMY" HOT!

hOME MADE CLOTHING.. all sewn together.. .. ... using "dental floss" !

Even the skin boats, Umiaq - the ugruk (bearded seal skins) are all sewn using dental floss. our lives depend on it because of its strength.

The old ways are dying quickly, too many restrictions are being put on our way of living, These people that make these decisions should go out on that ice and sit and wait. to eat. from the ocean, the land, or the air.

For thousands of years, this is our way of life, now we cannot hunt and eat the whale as we need to. We are limited to seven attempts

7 and if we miss,, we have to go home, and purchase food at four, five times the going rate, due to high cost of freight.

7 whales cannot possibly feed this village for four months, never mind a full year. Last year, we struck out, no whales, We have to play baseball now, it used to be 3 stirkes in early 80's but there were only 450 people here then.

Pont Hope used to have a population of over 10,000 people. Until, the Yankee whalers & Portugese showed up during the mid 1800's. the village slowly died from mass starvation & disease 190 people survived.

It was knowing this. the drove me for six months to melt snow, and process color film and print the 11 x 14 images, and some how get this done in time to go up to Barrow to attend a CLOSED meeting of WHALING CAPTAINS only, to present my photographs to these people that are making decisions and taking away the Eskimo way of life.THESE PEOPLE MUST BE STOPPED.

not the Eskimo way of living.

During the many THOUSANDS of years of living here in this one spot, The Inupaq peoples have lived in complete harmony with the land the sea and air without ever depleting ANY of the resources.

the day of the meeting is approaching and i have been working feverishly around the clock to get this album finished, actually 7 albums, each one identical. and I flew up to Barrow at considerable expense.

the day of the meeting arrived and I am on my way to this CLOSED meeting. I know this meeting is for Whaling Captains only.

On the way to the building, i SLIPPED on a piece of ice and went completly horizontal, the album went flying into the air and crash landed beraking both front and back covers off and the pages were scattered all over the place in mud.! I just sat there and cried like a little baby. GOT UP.. and picked up this mess and proceeded to this meeting all covered in mud, albun is a mess covered in mud pages hangingi out all over the place.

I walk in and they quickly grabbed me and threw me out.

OUTSIDE I try to clean up a bit with the album I could care less what I look like, and I walk back in and I am grabbed physically and thrown out.

I straghten up.. walk back in.. here they come.. and I yell loud..AND OPEN THE BOOK "YOU NEED THESE PHOTOGRAPHS".!!

wo the heck is this white man, covered in mud, with photos covered in mud?

THEY LET ME IN:.. and I spoke for over 1/2 hour on that podium to very important people and two state senators. and members of the international whaling commision and the Alaska Eskimo whaling commission.

i even spoke.. in Eskimo!

Upon my return to Point Hope I quickly sent them a NEW ALBUM..

for the last 20 years & longer the ocean ice has been getting thinner and thinner, we noticed this in the 80's and 90's BUT .. FOR THE LAST four years.. in a row.. the ICE HAS BEEN EXCEPTIONAL

currently at this moment today. 4 - 14 - 07 we are 5 miles out on the

Chukchi Sea in the Bering Strait

ChrisJ · April 14, 2007

Wow, incredible (and sad) story, David. Your images are peerless, just awesome. I'm glad you posted this. I feel like I'm reading a National Geographic article.

As a side note, sometimes I'm amazed at how technological advances allow someone to communicate in very difficult circumstances. I can't wait to hear how/when you get back from the Sea.

Majik Imaje · April 14, 2007

Lets go back out to the ocean ice.

My very first trip out to the ocean ice, it is 55 below, I have the flu, I just want to roll over in bed. NO! Jake (whaling captain) wants me on his crew, down on the ocean ice, NOW.

I FROZE THE FLU, after sleeping outside that night, I was perfectly fine the next day.

Esimo's have "TRICKS" to keep warm. many tricks. that can / will save your life when used.

MYTH: Eskimo's are used to the cold ! NO! they get just as cold as you or I, but there are ways to get warm out here in the middle of no where, HOT FOOD ? absolutly not! that will make your body relax, and your going to get cold later, We eat plenty of hot food, but at times, you need Quaq.

Pick up that hack saw and slice some meat off those ribs!

QUAQ raw frozen meat (caribou) or raw frozen fish, cut thin slices and swallow them whole do not chew them, FILL YOUR STOMACH FULL, and your stomach has to work very very hard to digest that meat or fish, & you will start to push out body heat the likes of which you have NEVER encountered. @ 40 below zero we are talking clothes off because we are too hot.

DON NOT ATTEMPT THIS AND TRY AND STAY INSIDE you will end up suffering greatly.

HANDS, FINGERS, FACE, you only have to SUFFER once before you will do this, and it works. but it is discusting. THAT IS WHAT my first IMPRESION was when WAS TOLD how to keep your hands warm out in the Arctic.

Yuk ! there is just no way,, I would ever do that .. GROSS.!

UNTIL.. I was placed in a situation that i had no choice. my hands were killing me, I could not take the pain and cold any longer.. TAKE YOUR GLOVES OFF.. this is why your nose runs so much when it is cold... USE IT.

BLOW YOUR NOSE into your hands,, rub it all over your fingers and hands and put your gloves back on quckly.

INSTANLY.. .. .. your hands become "toasty" warm, they don't HURT when they warm up,, and they will NOT GET COLD, for the rest of the day.

sniff ! sniff. Kakiik (Kah keek) "snot" ! Prevents, heals, frostbite. It can save your life, when in a remote place. stranded, cold, suffering.

Dirty clothes cannot keep you warm ! Loose layers, many loose layers,

Long Johns ? NO ! too tight! Everyone in the arctic dresses basically the same. After basic undergarments, the next most IJMPORTANT piece of clothing is a pair of gym shorts. Your gonna be sitting a lot, Loose sweat pants come next, then jeans, then ski pants. Upper torso, a couple of loose large T-shirts, then a couple of good flannel shirts, then a hooded sweatshirt, then a spring jacket, then the eskimo hunting parky. & GOOD THICK sunglasses, the sun is incredibly INTENSE.

One side of your face is sweating, the other side is getting frost bit. This takes some getting used to, Face the other way and it gets worse!

This is a "different planet" a different world for sure. There is no way I would ever leave the Arctic.

Changing film was pure toture! it would take quite a long time for me to be able to use my hands and fingers to be able to work the controls again. This was one such day i will never forget.. 60 below and very windy.

Cruising for food. contrary to what you beieve and know. Eskimo's don't chase a whale, they wait. for that WHALE TO GIVE HIMSELF over to THE CAPTAIN OF ITS CHOICE. the whale will match the captains personality.

some captains never catch a whale because of their personality.

A whale will match that captains personality. and so does the weather!

this is difficult to explain, and even harder for you to understand.

that tiny skin boat is only 12 feet long, that whale is perhaps 50 feet long, one flick of that whales tail and that crew, that umiaq is history. THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED EVER. One flick would break that flimsy driftwood boat covered with skins into toothpicks,

That whale can easily outrun an umiaq. A whale has incredible sense of smell, hearing and vision. I have proof of that.

Women must leave the ocean ice at certain times of the month. go home, get off the ice, Polar Bears are extremly dangerous and very unpredictable.

I have sad stories about that.. ... (later)!

Each camp is set up identical in every detail. TIME TESTED METHODS. Everyone uses the same, everything, it doesnt matter which camp your in, walk into that tent and the layout of everything is identical.

Wait & watch & listen, animals are coming, Bowhead whale, beluga whales, seals, walrus, ducks galore, Fresh Duck soup every day! Fresh donuts every day in every camp.

11:30 p.m. in May ! The canvas is to help block the wind from coming through the ice blocks that are natural way out here.

but how do you get or obtain DELICIOUS FRESH DRINKING WATER OUT HERE.

there is a private bathroom behind any tall remote piece of ice.! but no running water.

HOW DO 700 people get tons of fresh drinking water out here in the middle of a frozen ocean of SALT WATER ???

Majik Imaje · April 14, 2007

Hello honey.. what's for dinner ?
thanks ChrisJ

NationaL Geograhpic ha ha ha.. they offered me 5k for the complete rights to all images.

I was born at night.. .. .. but it wasn't last night. I knew what I had for photographs and the value of them.

wxwax · April 14, 2007

You're a passionate story teller, David!

Wonderful photos, it's a privilege to see the Inupiat way of life.

David_S85 · April 14, 2007

David, you have brought me to a place I will more than likely never venture. Through your photographs and story (continuing I hope), I am there. What a unique priviledge it is to share this adventure you bring to us!

This is exactly what the Journeys Forum was designed for. More! More!

Stan · April 14, 2007

I showed the story to my children (7 and 8). Especially the bit about the 3 year old Boyer. They loved the idea of staying up all night and being in charge... but then I asked them to clear the breakfast table...

Your images are unique and deserve to be shown, in context, to as wide an audience as possible. Congratulations for having the strength to hold on to them.

Do you still use film or have you changed to digital?

Stan

Majik Imaje · April 14, 2007

The switch has been made no more film - sob!
I remember when I first saw THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY in Camera 35 magazine in 1975. I was furious! I was quite upset, only because it had taken me a lot of hard work to master the C-41 Kodak process and the EP2 printing process. Now click click and better results are achieved with no knowledge and long processing techniques that few ever learn.

A small portion of darkroom # 15 ! Yes I have built and owned 16 color darkrooms!
And according to Kaptain Kodak, a darkroom should be painted WHITE. not black! as most are painted. My first two were black, then every darkroom there after was 100% white! what a huge difference!

Yes we made the switch to digital. we have a "few" of them.

The latest addition is a panasonic FZ 50 w/ leica lens 35mm - 420 mm zoom

Here we wait, for the lead to open, which just opened two days ago and a mad rush of people disapeeared into the vast open spaces of the ice pack

40 below zero.. HOME SWEET FROZEN HOME for the next two months.

at night it is much colder, once that sun goes below the horizon, next month in mid may. the sun won''t go down below the horizon until August.

SOLAR POWER.. the village is alive at night with the sound of little children playing out. ALL NIGHT LONG. We have the greatest summers.

762 Tasiq (tah suck) Street in Point Hope Ak. My house. "'rental".

rent: 150 per month heat: 50 per month electricity : 350 per month. Food? don't ask you won't believe $1000 a week! How is that possiblel ??

Easy, if I have a six pack of coke a cola a day, (which I do) that is six bucks @ a buck a can. I have three sons with me, so a case a day and we always go through more than that.. = $24 x 7 = 200 bucks a week. (rounded off). ha ha ha ha.. $800 a month for pop! ROFLMAO !!! a pound of butter, 10 bucks, cookies, 7.80 ha ha. and this is in a place where there are virtually NO JOBS.. Price of a small turkey,
ha ha ha. 135 bucks or more. yes it is very easy to spend 1000 bucks a week in that Native store, The cost of frieght is more than some items even cost.If I make a spaghetti sauce with meat balls, sausage, pork and chicken, ha ha.. that sauce will cost over 200 to make.

HOW DO PEOPLE survive.?? Arts & Crafts $$$$$$$$$$$$$ big bucks in the Arctic. Our Arts & Crafts sell all over, in this village, all villages, and in Anchorage and beyond. All over the state of Alaska there is something that is better and more valuable than GOLD... ivory ! no not the soap.

WALRUS IVORY that is thousands of years old, fossilized,

GORGEOUS BRACELETS

1000 bucks in the Arctic is like 100 dollars where you live. Gas is well over $5,00 per gallon, has been that way for years.

Arts & Crafts is big money. DOLL MAKING

[IMG]http://majikimaje.com/Female Doll.jpg[/IMG]

These dolls are about 15" high or tall. these dolls are much sought after througout the whole world, I have seen dolls as little as 10" high sell for $10,000! The ones pictured here sold before they were even finished.

$450 for the female dancer and 250 for the Hunter.

Whale bone vertebrae disc about 6" in diameter. Two tourists bought this from us before it was even finished. they didn't care, their plane was leaving and they wanted that now. $200. we use these for ashtrays, they are perfect. Eskimo bone masks are another thing that no two are ever alike. I have seen them go for as high as 7,000.

Baleen baskets are also treasured and much sought after, Elmer frankson in Point Hope makes four of them every year. huge ones. that sell on the east coast for $35,000 each!

Yes there is major money in Arts & Crafts, I pulled all four of my sons out of high school 4 years ago. They are about to retire! and I am 100% serious.

UNIQUE ONE OF A KIND fossilized ivory bracelets. My sons make these here at home. In this tiny house. that is all they do all day long. for almost 4 years now. they are considered the best in Kotzebue, Point Hope and soon to make their debut in Barrow.

i MIGHT AS WELL introduce you to my sons.. .. .. "initials"

.. ..

MarkAndrew Jesse Isaiah Khristopher = Majik

Isaiah, MarkAndrew, Jesse, Eves = IMAJE

oh yeah.. I amost forgot.. ONE WORD.. with a dot com @ the end.. majikimiaje.com

Majik Imaje · April 14, 2007

The Arctic is a very quiet place & strange & OLD.
FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS, things have been undisturbed, you never know, what you might find.

Kotzebue Alaksa 70 miles above the arctic circle, Clyde Harris was walking along the beach, he noticed something sticking up out of the mud a few inches, he kicked it & almost broked his toe. there are no toe trucks in the Arctic. never have seen one yet. clyed bent over and grabbed that little stump and the earth moved TEN FEET AWAY. OMG.. he quickly ran home, got a shovel and dug this up.

FOSSILIZED MASTADON IVORY.. he was offered $15,000 for it, but he refused.

south of Kotzebue in Candle there is a "tusk" in one piece 20 foot long embedded into the side of a cliff in ice. People have been watching this for years, for the ice to melt. the location is too dangerous to attempt any type of digging or whatever.

NOrth of Point Hope there is an ENTIRE MASTADON SKELETON preserved with huge tusks. in the side of a cliff half in the ice still, THE ELDERS do not want anyone to touch it or to take any photographs of it, they fear the worst in mankind to destroy it and take it away.

MaSTADON TEETH are everywhere in the Kotzebue sound area, many people make a good living just by finding teeth the size of bricks!

this is a small piece of a mastadon tooth that is just a chip off the actual size of the tooth. the layers are where the huge crushing movements took place in the tooth as it grew, from the humongous JAWS they possessed.

That is basically ACTUAL SIZE of a corner of the tooth a "chip" if you will.

Here are some cross cuts off Exquisite fossilized ivory. It takes as much as ten thousand years, for ivory to absorb all the elements of the sea.

Black is the oldest, blue is the rarest, but all colors are present in very unique colorful patterns.

GOLD IS EVERYWHERE up in the moutains outside of Point Hope,On top of bedrock, but no one will touch it. Many have tried and gotten very sick. dogs were used to try and haul it out, but the dogs died.

MANY STRANGER TALES EXIST here in the Arctic.. I will tell you of things that go bump in the night. only kidding, but when you hear these stories, YOU WONT BELIEVE THEM ONE BIT.

The man... who lost.. his nose ! TRUE STORY..

http://majikimaje.com/wally.html

[IMG]http://majikimaje.com/SUN COPYa.JPG[/IMG]

Rex Rock - -=[Umaliaq]=- Whaling Captain - winner Alaska Press Award 1989 - MIDNIGHT IN MAY

We are gaining 20 minutes more light each day now, soon it will not get dark. 3 a.m. is just like 3 p.m. The sun and the moon are visible 24 hours a day circling above high in the sky.

Is it 3 AM or 3 PM ? June & July you can't tell the difference what time of day it is and no one cares!

There are no O's in the Eskimo language & no E's also.

so when you hear or see the word IGLOO that is wrong!

First of all 95% of people do not know what an IGLU really is.

Iglu = one dwelling place Iglut = 2 dwelling places Igluk = 3+

An iglu is NOT MADE OUT OF ICE. you have to go to Greenland or Canada for that type of structure. But here in Alaska since eon's ago. an iglu has always been made out of .. .. whale bones and sod !

In fact this "condo" has electricty going to it at one point in time. the service drop is located on the left !

An iglu is quite large inside, and could easily accomodate a very large family. Once the snow arrives then you see the "mound" but since times long ago THIS IS HOW the Eskimo's of Alaska lived. 3,000 years ago their ancestors crossed the bering land bridge, and settled in Point Hope. All villages in Alaska were founded by people from Point Hope, Greenland was founded by the same people, they speak the same dialect.

saurora · April 14, 2007

David this is just an amazing post and an intriguing look at a life and culture I know little about. Fascinating stuff and look forward to more posts!

photodoug · April 14, 2007

you had me at "High in the Arctic !!"
...keep going please

Majik Imaje · April 14, 2007

Back out on the ocean ice. Crews are out in the water
waiting for whales to migrate, meanwhile back in the tent area, food is being prepared. Caribou soup. Great stuff. no fat in caribou meat NONE.

TAKE 3 POUNDS of ground up caribou meat, fry it up, there is less than 1/2 teaspoon of fat!

delicious fresh water is needed for makiing soup, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, miles out on the ocean ice, we need tons of water, lots and lots of it every day. take any piece of ice, OCEAN ICE is salt water! We have to take the salt out.. .. the eskimo way.. we wait! & WAIT.

Stand up any piece of ice, brush the snow off it. Now wait & watch. As the sun beats down on that piece of ice. it will start to "clear" up. In other words the sun will cause the salt to settle in that piece of ice.

As that piece of ice becomes clearer, then take your kettle over to that piece of ice and start to chop from the top horizontally, small chunks of ice and fill your kettle with the most DELICIOUS drinking water you have ever tasted!

We can actually speed up this process by placing that piece of ice on "sand". Yes we bring sand down to the ocean ice. We can use sand to cut gigantic holes in that ice. if we need to, to find a whale that has hidden under the ice pack.

Sand will heat up rapidly from the strong sun, and sink into the ice.
down, down, down, we wait, watch and the sun will help us cut any size hole we want.

Picnic time, two months of it. Delicious hot food many times each and every day. All trash, every scrap of it, is picked up, taken care of and brought back into town to the dump which is on the south side of town. Stong North Wind always keeps any burning smells out of the village. if the wind does shift, and it does, to a south wind, Then the ice is advancing and we have to scram, run quick, Assholes and elbows are running all over the place, it is a mad scramble. "Killivuk" get out of here NOW!

ICE IS COMING OUR WAY.. ... .. and it will run right over everything with 50 foot tall piles of crashing tall huge chunks, we have little time. It takes 8 hours to set up a camp properly. when the wind shifts to south, we have less than 15 minutes to pack EVERYTHING up and evacuate back to land.

It is a mad frantic dash, everyone is running gathering anything and everything to get out of here A.S.A.P.

Long ago in the very olden days when they had no way to evacuate, they would take a first born girl and strip that baby and hold the baby up into the wind, and move the baby to the direction they needed the wind to shift to, so that they could stay out there and hunt.

This is a very quiet, peaceful way to live, one with the land, the sea, and the air. There are no traffic jams up here. no pollution, & most important of all, no noise. When it is quiet out. ( no wind) two people can be 3/4 a mile away talking and you can hear them!!
My Captain.. .. .. -=[Jake Koonuk]=- The man with the "funny hat" !

Avataqpaq (ah vah tuck puck) is a suffed seal skin filled with AIR. It is used much in the same manner as a "bobber" is used in fishing, but this tells us which way the whale is headed. 200 feet of rope is attached to avataqpaq.

It is the number two persons job in that umiaq to make sure that the captain and other people don't get tangled in that rope when it is taken by the whale.

Whales are just like little children, they always copy the captains personality. Some captains will never catch a whale because of their personality, i.e. (mean person, will not share etc.) animals know this somehow and act accordingly. some whales will "show off" when they give themself over to a captain. Others will act timid and just give up quickly.
Some will hide, play hide and seek, and give the crews a workout, trying to find it or locate it. but all in all.. THAT WHALE HAS TO GIVE HIMSELF. over to the captain. Unless everything is prepared correctly, the captin will not receive a whale. Everything must be cleaned and new on that umiaq.

oars or paddles must be sanded and all dirt must be taken off.
all equipment must be checked re-checked many times.

That seal skin that covers the umiaq is very thin. paper thin, that is all that protects them from the deadly water.

Six ugruk skins (bearded seal) are sewn together using a water tight stitch made using dental floss.

Just after this photo was taken two whaling captains approached that woman and told her. We don't allow cameras down here.. please leave.

she made the mistake of saying and pointing.. BUT. HE IS TAKING PICTURES ALSO.

ooppsss that was the wrong thing for her to say.. You!! don 't know what your talkng about they told her. He has been before the Bia, the IRA, the captains association, the whaling commision. WHO ? HAVE YOU ASKED PERMISSION FROM ? either leave now. or that camera and you are going into the water! She quickly left, very pissed off and mad.

John Denver came to Point Hope in 1976. I was in Boston at the time, I had never been to ALASKA.. .. yet ! I was watching this episode on the Tonight show with Johnny Carson,

An eskimo with a "funny hat" was with John Denver out on the ocean ice, and they were watching a polar bear. John Denver brought some movie clips with him, i was fascinated with this show. BUT THEN John Denver began to describe these people and the village of Point Hope.

Nothing but blasphemous, slanderous lies he told. They caught a whale and left it there to rot he proclaimned on T.V. before the whole world.

John Denver did a lot of very bad things to the people of Point Hope, when he was in the village.

He wanted to "help" their cause, to continue whaling. ha! cocaine, Pot, and cases and cases of alcohol were brought in to bribe the whaling captains.

Jo-Jo Omnick was out on the tundra for over three days runing around, thinking he was a "caribou". due to the chocolate mesculine they gave him.

Mr. Denver did these people a grave injustice by hurting them in this manner, and then to get on National TV and call them the names he used, was a very low low thing to do.

There is just no way, ever, these people would let their favorite food, lie there and go to waste. That is sacreligious and against everything the Eskimo people believe in.

Irma Oktollik is the whaling captains wife (umaliaq) that told me about the whale giving it self to the captain of its choice.

I must admit that when she was explaining all of this to me ( I did not believe her, I was very skeptical). It just didn't make any sense.

It doesnt matter which year it is she said. "that whale will always do the same exact thing for that same captain year after year.

For instance, she added, If so & so strikes a whale, that whale will always go south, if so & so strikes a whale that whale will always go north, and if so & so strikes a whale, that whale will always hide under the ice.

She went on and said.. this year it is warm (zero). this is Joe Frankson's weather she said. WATCH.. .. when Joe strikes a whale, that whale dies instantly very close to Joe's camp. when that whale dies the temperature will drop 100 degrees she added and the wind will come screaming in at over 100 miles an hour. ha ha ha ha ha.. ok.. I am setting my tripod up at Joe's camp. I want to see and witness this.

A friend of mine from Boston arrived in Point Hope for this 83 whale hunt. We moved over to Joes crew and we are sitting up high on ice pressure ridges in back of Joe's camp. playing chess!

STUPID STUPID STUPID ME.... never saw or heard Joe's crew silently slip into the umiaq and softly paddle out about 50 yards off shore.. I hear BOOM. (exploding harpoon) and look up to see a dead whale beside joe's umiaq. I am just about to get up to click the image and that wind, came rushing in at 100 miles and hour and that temp dropped like a rock. OMG is it cold now.. we are running, to get jmore clothes on. That wind was vicous and the temp matched. viciouslly cold, Oh my gosh. how did she know ???

But Irma was 100% correct. I don't know how she knew, or what she knew but she told me exactly what would happen, two weeks before it ever did happen.

In that image above, the water, beside the ice? Floyd Oktollik, is smiling at me and I know what he is thinking..

what is that dumb city boy from Boston going to do next. ?? they leave and are out of sight in no time.
I have the habit of making these people fall into fits of uncontrolable fall down laughter,
I walk over to that edge. No one is around, I am the ONLY PERSON, on the ice pack, everyone is gone, in skin boats,

the women in the tents, 1/2 - 3/4 a mile behind the lead opening are all busy, working, I have been out here for about 6 weeks and I am starting to feel very comfortable with my new twilight zone surroundings.

I walk up to that edge and stick the tips of my bunny boots over the edge a couple of inches. I have a camera strap around my neck, Mamiya RB on my chest, I stand a little taller and place my hands /arms behind my back and straighten up just a little bit TALLER, as if to say,, hey this is so kewl, LOOK AT ME! HA HA HA HA .. I never saw it.. THERE WAS NO WARNING WHAT SO EVER. That glass - like water never moved as much as a ripple not the slightest. PERFECTLLY STILL GLASS, and then right in front of me was a huge black hole, My leg could have easily have fit inside that hole, a huge bowling ball could fit in, with room to spare (no pun intended). WHOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHH! HE blew his blowhole.. ALL OVER ME. OMG... Oh my ever loving sense of smell is forever ruined. what is that facking stink ? whew.. I am soaking wet all over. A huge blast of STINNKING FOUL SMELLING... putrified stink, barf! I am dripping wet, soaked, cold and running back toward the camp area and I got a long way to go.. oh my goodness... I can't even breathe, this stink is everywhere.. my face is wet, all of me is wet. Like a huge firehose was opened on me and tons of water blasted me WHEW WHAT A STINK...as I approach the tent area of our camp two women are working outside of the tent.. as they look up to see me COVERED in ice. they burst into laughter.. It wasn't hard or difficult for these professionals to figure out what had happened just by looking at me.. GET AWAY... STAY BACK.. NO! you can't come in here.. and they fell down laughing in an uncontrollablel hard laugh. I tried to give them the camera to take a pic.. they would not come near me..I HAD TO WAIT.. while they melted snow, and made warm water for me to wash this off.. It was a long time before I was cleaned up enough to even begin to smile..I want to know... whose idea that was ? I want to know!.. WHO laughed the HARDEST... !

Jonah had his story ,it is written in a book called the bible.

I have my true story about a whale, and it has been posted on this and many other web sites.

Majik Imaje · April 16, 2007

A whale has been caught.. ..
Now the REAL WORK begins, no one sleeps, there is just too much to dol.

Each successfull camp sets up a flag to show or mark the crew or spot where the whale will be hauled up using people power to drag that huge animal out of the water and on to the ice.

This is a 48 foot whale we got here folks.. A TON PER FOOT, the ice kept breaking everytime we thought we had it up. This is very dangerous work. Hundreds of people pulling with everything they got. I got no time to take any photographs, each and every body is needed. BUT .. I sneak out of line, each and every time I am "ALLOWED".

17 GRUELING HOURS.. whew.. now, the Real work begins. Everything is eaten on that whale ecept the bones, and the baleen.

A bowhead whale uses the fine hairs on the many hundreds of rows of balleen that are inside the mouth to sift the plankton from the ocean water.

Needles to say, thie is a very time consuming task at hiand. and sometimes days are spent cutting up and distributing the shares, and packing it up to take back to the village.
Even though we are only 5 miles out on the ocean ice pack. That five mile journey can take 3-4 hours depending on conditions of the ice. So once you get a ride out here.. This is where you stay, if your going back to town.. that is where you stay! This is no commercial highway of quick easy access out here. Hundreds of people had to chop a way through the ice, then each crew has to blaze a trail to their own camp site. The Umialaq is in charge of his crew (The whaling captain) That crew ( 8 hunters are his domain). The Umaliaq is in charge of the ICE.. she tells the captain where to set up his boat.
She owns the ice. this is her domain. SHE IS BOSS OVER ALL.

Majik Imaje · April 17, 2007

We need our food !
It takes a long time to cut up a whale properly and pack it up dividing it up in shares for all the people of the village.

Transporting it all back to town is a major effort. People don't just ride straight back to town but travel in groups always circling making sure that no one is left behind and that everyone gets off that ice pack safely.

Everyone watches everyone's back so to speak. anything can happen out here and many times does,

One time we were down at the lead openiing and someone came running up to us in a panic saying.. we are not on the ice. I looked under my feet and was wondering what this boy was saying.. the ice broke a mile in back of us!

Major panic took place. We have to get out of here quick! We have the umiaq with us to transport equipment first and people second,

Everything is cleaned off that whale, nothing is wasted. The head bone or skull goes back into the ocean so a new whale can grow. Much rejoicing and cheering erupts over this event.

DANGER WARNING: Polar bears are not cuddly cute animals, They are ferocious predators, that are dangerous and very unpredictable

Back in the 1970's it was legal for the white man to hunt the polar bear. A permit was issued that was good for one day only. The cost of that permit was 10,000. This had to be stopped due to hunters shooting the bears from the air in chartered airplanes.

Hunting a polar bear is very dangerous, that bear is very cunning and can hide easily. When out on the ocean ice pack a polar bear will sit down at a water hole waiting for a seal to surface. That bear will place his paws over his nose and eyes to hide. Once that seal surfaces, one swipe and it is all over. .. 'burp!

ALL BEARS: are left handed! There is only ONE PLACE to shoot a polar bear that will kill him.. you MUST SHOOT HIM in the ear!

Polar bear meat is the most delicious meat I have ever tasted. It is jet black and grainny like old grarled wood. but sweet, tender and better than the best prime rib I have ever tasted.

" jj " RUSSELL LANE Proudly displays his first polar bear. 9' 6" - that skin is worth 15,000. but it is against the law to sell it iin one piece.

The hunter prepares the animal for transport. Openinig up a polar bear is very dangerous. Even though that bear is dead. stone cold dead, that bear can still kill the hunter if he is not careful.

The inside of a polar bear is very toxic.. .. TOO MUCH VITAMIN "A" !

ANY of that juice touches your skin and your dead! the liver must be carefully cut out and the tubes tied, the liver is then burned and destroyed so that no other animal will eat it and die.

the hunters wife will gather some friends and it takes many women and many hours of hard work to clean that skin using an ulu knife and scraping that skin until it is clean, soft, white as snow!

Dec 1990 CHarles Stalker Jr. III saw a polar bear, in Point Lay going after his pregnant girl-friend. He distracted the bear, but was only armed with a knife. One swipe of that bears left paw cut him in half. Charles was my electrical apprentice. We were very close friends.

Allan Rock was attacked by a Polar Bear out on the ocean ice, Allan was only armed with a knife also. Allan lived to tell his story! That bear died!

Focus Pocus · April 20, 2007

I wish I could see these images! They sound wonderful! All I see right now are red x's. I think that the dgrinners have pushed your site past the bandwidth limit. I'll check back later.

Thanks!
Richard

DucCat · April 20, 2007

I am seeing red X's:cry I am planning a trip to the Artic next year to see the polar bears and walrus' so I wanted to see your pictures.

wxwax · April 20, 2007

Focus Pocus wrote:

I wish I could see these images! They sound wonderful! All I see right now are red x's. I think that the dgrinners have pushed your site past the bandwidth limit. I'll check back later.

Thanks!
Richard

Good guess. The photos have disappeared. Pity, what a great thread!

W.W. Webster · April 21, 2007

wxwax wrote:

The photos have disappeared. Pity, what a great thread!

I can never understand why posters unlink the images from their posts. And in less than a week?

I would also like to see these! How about it?

Majik Imaje · April 29, 2007

Well I apologize and the explanation is simple
10,000 hits per day pushed my bandwidth right over the limit. All images will magically appear back on the first of the month and I will post more images.

And tell you somre more spectacular stories of life in the Arctic.!!

Until then.. stay tuned for some incredible photos !

wxwax · April 29, 2007

Majik Imaje wrote:

10,000 hits per day pushed my bandwidth right over the limit. All images will magically appear back on the first of the month and I will post more images.

And tell you somre more spectacular stories of life in the Arctic.!!

Until then.. stay tuned for some incredible photos !

Thanks, Majik!

Art Scott · April 29, 2007

Waiting, waitng, waiting.....with extreme anticipation of some really fantastice photo masterpeices......and stories to accompany them

Majik Imaje · May 1, 2007

Images are back !!! ENJOY - ENJOY !!!
If per-chance you see a red X

then just right click on it and choose SHOW PICTURE

enjoy.. and I will continue where I left off, as soon as I figure out where.

Majik Imaje · May 1, 2007

DucCat ? Where in Alaska do you plan to see polar bears ? The zoo ?

Walrus yes, that is possible, but I don't see how you can view something this dangerous, people have the wrong idea of what a polar bear is.

When they come into town.. Many times, we have no choice but to take them down quickly.

Recently a mother with 3 cubs entered town, they were safely guided back out to the ocean ice.

This was accomplished by hunters staying behind them and preventing them from turning in any direction.

Prudhoe bay Alaska in a 'break room' at one of the construction camps, a polar bear was seen outside the camp windows, some construction worker slapped the window with a newspaper,, that bear took out the window and climbed in..

Unless your in a plane, or an amored tank, I doubt you can view a polar bear safely, it has been done, it can be done, but it is a very dangerous animal that can easily smell you from miles away.

Good luck I hope to see your images !

wxwax · May 1, 2007

Majik Imaje wrote:

If per-chance you see a red X

then just right click on it and choose SHOW PICTURE

enjoy.. and I will continue where I left off, as soon as I figure out where.

Excellent!

digismile · May 1, 2007

For Polar Bears, you need to go to some place like Churchill. Read this month's issue of Outdoor Photographer about Canada's far north. Might be something you're looking for!

DucCat wrote:

I am seeing red X's:cry I am planning a trip to the Artic next year to see the polar bears and walrus' so I wanted to see your pictures.

Majik Imaje · May 1, 2007

A few images ago, A man is holding a .. .. ..
A polar bear skin, that person is J J Russell Lane. This year 28th of April J. J. caught his very first whale and the first for the village this year. CongratZ JJ.. 36 foot whale. I am not down on the ice, I can't make that trip, but here is what is presently going on in town May 1st 07

It took 3 1/2 days to cut up J J's whale, shares are divided up according to which umiaq reaches the whale first after the Captain has killed it.

Michael Tuzroyluk (first year whaling captain) was the first and only umiaq to reach that whale. all the other crews were too far north to reach the location.

JJ does not receive any shares of his FIRST WHALE. Those shares go to the elders of the village.

the rest of the crews.. (in this case Michaels only) chip in a portion of thier shares to the other crews and to JJ.

His next whale he will keep HIS shares.

JJ and his crew and Michael and his crew,, towed 36 tons... for many miles to get back to camp.!!

Paddling an Inpuiat umiaq is an excercise in extreme torture. YOu cannot miss a stroke, you cannot or MUST NOT splash water on the person behind you, keep doing it and he will throw you out of the umiaq.

Your arms become NUMB and the pain is beyond description.

My first whale hunt 17 crews were tied together, and for 9 miles they sang and sang as they towed this massive beast through the water backwards

Sadlly those images are lost. so many of my images have been stolen or lost through moving throughout the state, but I STILL HAVE HUNDREDS and hundreds more to show.

STORY TIME last sunday.. the crews down on the ice had to evacuate twice during the past three weeks due to south wind.

Upon returning to the ice, Robert Kingik was using Luke Koonuks snowmachine with ten foot sled. Erin Taylor was on the back of the sled. He is 11 years old. Robert is about 27 years stupid.

It was hard to see the existing trail in the ice because the skies are overcast and the new north wind brought snow and covered some of the tracks and the ocean was "slush".. Robert never saw the edge of the ice,

He drove the machine right into the ocean. When 11 year old Erin saw the machine go "down" he quickly rolled off the sled onto the ice. The snowmachine and the sled disappeared instantly into the slush. Robert was trying to tread water and reach the ice and went down, he came back up and yelled, Erin, i know I am going to die today, "down down' , he popped back up and said.. "see you in heaven or in hell " and
went down.. Erin stuck his whole arm into the slush and grabbed Robert by the hair! Somehow this 11 year old superstar hero managed to get Robert back on the ocean ice. INSTANTLY the next thing is to cut off all his clothes, every stitch of clothing must be CUT OFF as quickly as possible without injuring the person or indivduals involved. 100% naked standing on ice @ 30 below soaking wet.

Then the person can start to dress the naked person by removing his clothing and get this person dried, dressed and new clothing at the nearest tent location.

Erin was the only person around, he removed his hat and quickly Rubbed robert down to get all the water /ice slush off him. then Robert wears the hat, and Erin takes off his outerwear, Parky and skipants for Robert to use and they run, 3/4 a mile back to where Robert missed a turn in the trail.

Wait a minute.. ... uses a hat to get water and wet slush off a person? Isn't the hat wet now ? nope dry as can be, Certain furs, hold water, and certain furs repel water, Wolverine & Beaver cannot become wet, just shake it and all the water is gone, fur is dry, wolf fur is not for hunting, it will keep your face wet and cold, same with fox and many other furs, they are only used for Fancy parky's only.

Needless to say. The whaling captain was furious over loosing his new $12,000 dollar snowmachine & sled. This loss will place incredible strain on the captain for accomplising all his tasks to maintain the crew of 12 - 15 people he supports all day every day for 2 months!!
Luke Koonuk is an Episcopal Minishter here in town.!

Just a brief commercial of sorts.. ROFLMAO.. these images are actual models I have made and have learned how to animate in a program called 3D Studio Max.

Tigluk is about to go hunting.. .. but he is not, where he thought he was.

http://majikimaje.com/Hunting.zip

The Lone drummer is sitting, thinking, about the good ol days, when people sang and danced, then he hears a sound and wakes up, is he dreaming ?

http://majikimaje.com/ld03.zip

My latest creation is Tyrek.

He is all "rigged" and ready to animate, Only problem is I need a much faster computer with lots more memory. I am currently using a 1.4 gz w. 1.5 gig of ddram this is not capable of what I need to animate the bones and fur and cloth.

I make outrageous money from these images of whaling, and my passion has now turned to 3d character animation.

I haven't used a camera in over a decade for all practical purposes, a pic here and there, but exposing hundreds of rolls of film or getting down to the ocean ice again, I dunno.. Oh yeah this is the DIGITAL AGE right ? ha ha ha ha. GO AHEAD.. take a digital camera down to that ocean ice, watch what happens. My camera(s) were encased in ice. There is no place to go to warm it up, the tents.. no you can't do that. Going from 50 below to 75 above that fast.. ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? If you walk into that tent with a camera, that camera is going to "sweat" and become soaking wet all over.

Now you can't go outside with that, until it is bone dry and you cannot possibly dry the inside of that camera. Go outside and it turns into ice in no time.. less than 30 seconds.

40 below zero with 50 mph winds is something you don't ever want to feel, it hurts. I see first hand how these people suffer at times, but this is 'our world" and that is part of living outside and LEARNING HOW TO KEEP WARM, what to eat, what not to eat and when to eat certain foods.

People are dancing all over the ice, and fresh maktak (muk tuk) is being passed around to every household by JJ's family members and crew.

There is no way a digital camera could take the punishment of being out there, Oh sure an image here and there, but it won't last, those betteries will die in minutes out there in that vicious cold.

Exposed skin @ 70 below will FREEZE in less than 30 seconds,

the absolute worst I have ever seen and experienced was 89 below zero with 120 mile an hour winds.

people were out walking and doing normal things sorta, you had to walk backwards.. or at 45 degree angle to 'charge into the wind."

Take a stryofoam cup of hot coffee and quickly go outside @ 60 below throw the coffee into the air and hold the cup.. you will hear a loud SNAP as the coffee freezes and dissapates and disappears

above image taken w/ SONY 4 mega pixel = 13" x 19" with razor sharpness

I am quite impressed at this photo my youngest son took when he was 15 of his sister -=[Keziah]=- Age 5

NOW.. THAT A WHALE HAS BEEN CAUGHT.. NEXT IS WHALING FESTIVAL

coming soon.!

High in the Arctic !! Eskimo....

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