Wakanyeja Project

I started taking photos three years ago when my grandson was born. I loved taking photos of him as a newborn who is now a toddler. I credit my love for photographing newborns, toddlers and young children to my grandson, Jax.

I am a graphic designer by trade and one day, I decided to contact a client who works with pregnant Native American women and see if she wanted to collaborate on a project I had been thinking about. Together we came up with the "Wakanyeja (Holy Children) Project".

The Wakanyeja (Holy Children) Project will give young Native American mothers a chance to get professional photos of their newborns that they can cherish for life at no charge.

At the hospital, they will be given a gift bag which will include a gift certificate for a free, professional photo shoot of their newborn child from Jeffries Photography. Included in the shoot will be Native American styled newborn clothing and accessories (that I have designed) for the baby to use during the shoot for both boys and girls.

This project has not started yet as I am working on getting more Native styled clothing and accessories for them to choose from. For practice, I have invited several Native American mothers to bring their newborns into my home studio for free photography sessions.

One reason for starting free sessions, is the majority of these women cannot afford to pay the full price. I also know how important Native American culture and how important their children are to them. They are so delighted and happy when they see their edited photos. They receive fully edited digital files to print from.

I had one young lady contact me stating she wanted to take photos of her baby before he got too old as he was 3 weeks old but she didn’t have the money to pay me until payday. I told her to come in anyway and not to worry about payment, we would figure that out. I let her buy the images for ten dollars each with no session fee. She posted her images on social media and I got more young mothers coming to me for photos. It became so that I was telling every single woman not to worry about payment. Some of them I gave for free totally, and others they would buy for ten dollars each.

Below are some statistics for Native Americans living in South Dakota.

South Dakota leads the nation in the percentage of Native Americans living below the poverty line, and more than half of the Native Americans in the state’s second largest city live in poverty, according to new U.S. Census data released Wednesday.

More than 48 percent of the state’s 65,000 Native Americans live below the poverty threshold, according to the American Community Survey on poverty covering 2007 to 2011. In Rapid City, the poverty rate for Native Americans was 50.9 percent. This leads the nation among the 20 cities most populated by American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Being Native American myself, I know how hard it is to make it in the city. I was lucky when I was young. I was able to go to college and get a Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Design. I found a job while still attending college and have been working in my field ever since. Recently including photography to my list of services.

I want to ease the burden and the only way I know how is to... be their humble photographer and give them the opportunity to get their baby’s first photos done for free. An opportunity they've never had before.

If I win this award, I will buy or rent a studio, I currently use my own home for a studio. I think that being able to shoot in a real studio setting will help not only me look professional, but help the women feel more at ease with the photo session.

Wopila Tanka! (Huge Thanks!)