Creating Product Photography with Colorado's First Indigenous Soap Company

December 2021

The shimmering midday sun hangs high over a Colorado forest. A cool wind sweeps off the Rockies and rustles the golden leaves, signaling the coming winter. I raise my camera to my face, and as I peer through the lens I see a picture perfect moment. My friend, an admirable Lakota warrior, traditional dancer and devoted father, Nick Ohitika Naijin, fixes the hair braids of his daughter, Haleakalā, and they both share a loving smile.

With all the death, suffering, and pressures that have been forced upon indigenous peoples over the last 500 years, you can't help but admire the perseverance that has been carried through their cultures to safeguard moments like these. To have a Native man teaching his daughter everything he knows and to be able to guide her through life is a breathtaking and triumphant moment to experience. 

Soon after taking the photo of Nick and Haleakalā, I asked Nick what he thought was the most important element of his culture to pass to down his daughter. He paused for small second, and in sincerity, said: "It's not just passing down my culture, but because she's a woman, I want her to feel empowered. That you don't need someone to tell you what to do all the time. You as a little Native American indigenous woman, I'm always here to help you and guide you as a father, but you can do whatever you want."

Those beautiful words say everything about their relationship, and it also stands as a mission statement for an endeavor they both took on together earlier last year. It was just back in June 2021, during the reign of homeschooling and COVID-19, that Haleakalā asked her dad if she could take gymnastics classes. Nick and his wife, Akalei, looked into the opportunity but quickly found out it was very expensive. 

Haleakalā, already wise well beyond her 9 years, didn't take offense when her parents explained the cost, and instead of giving up offered one more idea. She wanted to make soap bars, and she wanted to do it together as a family. 

Nick and Akalei purchased all the necessary ingredients and helped their daughter make her first batches, and according to Nick, the process wasn't as easy as it looked. Some of the bars came out soft or even melted, but over a few weeks they mastered the craft and began to customize them with different scents.

Many of the scents were from indigenous herbs like pine, sage, tobacco, sweetgrass, lavender, blue corn, and wojapi berry, which are all used in traditional medicines and ceremonies, and as they continued to make more they passed out the bars for family members and friends to try out. The feedback was enormous, and before they knew it, word about them had spread like wildfire and many people even from out of state were asking to purchase them in bulk.

A small, simple family art project had exploded into a life changing business, and after a few months Nick was able to quit his day job as they began shipping their products all across North America. 

That was the beginning of Colorado's one and only indigenous-owned soap company, Lakota Body Care, and after about six months of their operation I got to work with them in person.