Becoming the Warrior : The Samburu People

• Prize
• Photographer
  Marcy Mendelson, United States
• Studio
  Mendelson Images
• Website
  http://www.innercamera.com

In Kenya, Samburu warriors (moran) graduate to senior status once every seven years. They
will each slaughter a cow and drink blood from its neck as a symbol of their role in the
community: to protect and represent their culture and the defend the security of their
clans. In this photo the warriors wait for instruction at dawn from the elders before the
ceremony begins.

I?ve shot people for many years. I?ve loved it. But now it is time for something else. Time to go inside. I?m going inside by getting outside. The landscape serves as a reflection for my internal machinations that are sometimes meditative, lonely and exposed. I also like road trips.

~Marcy Mendelson