Story-telling has always been a tribal activity. The old Irish had their seanachies, the Africans had their griots -- every clannish culture through history has had its own tradition of story-telling. In the past we told stories to educate and to amuse, we told them to remember the past and to anticipate the future, we told stories to reinforce group norms and to keep tribal knowledge and history alive. The stories told were a direct reflection of the tribe doing the telling.

Not much has changed.

Utata is an unorthodox tribe. Our affiliation is voluntary and virtual, and our roots are grounded in concepts rather than blood ties. We are a global tribe of photographers, so it's only fitting that our story-telling should be done through photography.

These stories reveal who we are, both as individuals and as a group. The stories are diverse because our members are diverse; they're creative because we, as a group, are creative. We are Utata, and this is who we are.
Fiction, from the Latin term fingere, meaning "to shape, form, devise, or create," perhaps derived from a Proto-Indo-European meaning "to knead or form out of clay." And isn't that what writing fiction is all about -- forming a living story out of the clay of imagination?
Some stories are based on actual events. Some revolve around real people. Some report genuine observations. The underlying Truth of nonfiction stories make them all the more gripping.
We take unique pleasure in seeing the familiar transformed into something new. Adapted works offer us the best of both worlds -- the comfort of old friends combined with the novelty of a new acquaintance.