THE BLOOD RESERVE (Canada's largest native reserve) is a land of wind, prairie, mountains, and rivers, a land of dramatic physical beauty. It is the setting for George Webber's stunning collection of black-and-white photographs, People of the Blood. From the spring of 1992 until the late summer of 2005, Webber journeyed to the reserve from his home in Calgary, documenting his experiences on film and with pen and paper.

People of the Blood is an intimate and compelling story of the reserve's people and stark, sweeping landscape told in black and white. In his quest to photograph and document hope and darkness in the western Canadian landscape, Webber has ceaselessly photographed the people, small communities, and the land for a quarter century. People of the Blood documents a photographic journey spanning over a decade, one that put Webber in contact with the strong people of the Blood, their spiritual practices, their hopes, their challenges, wins and losses.

With grace and compassion, Webber shows us the sweat lodge and the sun dance, the faces of hope and despair, rodeos and funerals, quiet kitchen conversations and heartbreaking devastation.

Never an interloper, Webber's quiet presence is that of a documentary photographer of the first order, which seeks to tell the stories of the people and the land in which they live. As it moves between the realms of the spiritual world and harsh reality, interspersed with the incredible beauty of the landscape, People of the Blood captures the light in the darkness, the hope that exists in the Blood people, who live in unforgiving landscapes and social circumstances. In his grainy, dark imagery, Webber continues to capture these sparks in what might seem to be barren surroundings.

George Webber is a renowned documentary photographer whose previous collections with Rocky Mountain Books include an illustrated edition of Robert Kroetsch's classic novel Badlands, Prairie Gothic (with Aritha van Herk), Last Call (with Karen Connelly), Alberta Book (with Fred Stenson), and Saskatchewan Book (with Lorna Crozier). He is the recipient of numerous National Magazine Awards (Canada), two Awards of Excellence from the Society for News Design (USA), and an International Documentary Photography Award (Korea). His images have been featured in American Photo, Canadian Geographic, Lenswork Quarterly, Photolife, The New York Times, and Swerve magazine. In 1999 he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in recognition of his contributions to the visual arts in Canada. George lives in Calgary, Alberta.

George Webber's profile page

Rick Tailfeathers' profile page

"A profound, challenging book that follows in the footsteps of his previous documentary masterpiece, A World Within: An Intimate Portrait of the Little Bow Hutterite Community (Fifth House). There is no one who brings a calmer eye, a more respectful gaze or a more open heart to his subject matter than Calgary's Webber."
-Swerve magazine, Calgary Herald