We Walk in Beauty

This is a photographic project of mine which I initiated in 1992, to photograph Native American people. It started off as just an anecdotal group of photographs, with one, then two, then five or six. I realized I was establishing a unique collection of work. Opportunities for good photographs taken with my 8x10 or 11x14 camera came along infrequently. Continuing to look for those serendipitous moments, the collection of images continued to build each year. After five years, I had about 20-25 images. After 10 years I had 50-60 images. I kept going. Following a fortuitous meeting with the archivist from the Smithsonian, I came to know they were interested in my work. Two years later, they asked me if I would consider donating my work to their museum. I agreed, and they responded that I should go back to all my subjects and collect their words. I came up with five questions and sent it to 26 subjects. After two years, all had returned the interviews filled out. I transcribed them exactly with no editing, and decided to publish the book, We Walk in Beauty, with 44 reproductions of platinum photographs and 26 interviews. Sometimes, something that starts out small, works into something larger and more important. The book can be seen at http://www.wewalkinbeauty.com/ in its entirety. After I sold all 1000 books I published, I decided to put it on the Internet for the world to see.