Erika Larsen - Young Blood

Erika Larsen – Young Blood

www.erikalarsenphoto.com

“I spent a year and half traveling across the United States looking for its next generation of hunters and the children I found put a young face on an ancient practice. Along the way I joined many hunting expeditions and sought the perspective of child hunters. The faces reveal America’s youth connecting to hunting’s storied past. Many children today while away their time with video games, television and movies. These young hunters take a different path. For them, the thrill is learning to follow their instincts and being immersed in nature.

As children learn to hunt, they not only carry on a sacred tradition, but also learn to embrace the environment. They experience up close the lessons of life and death and become part of that cycle. No longer just observers, these children are working parts of nature.

Hunting is a tradition that has been passed down through families for centuries. In some places it is a means of survival, in others a sacred sport. For everyone, learning to hunt is a coming of age. Hunters often consider what they do to be a privilege, even a ritual, which outsiders do not fully understand. From the vantage point of the young hunter, I was shown a small window into that world.”

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