Thanks, Laura.
Only have a few words to say, first
that it was an honor to have my images accompany
Laura's beautiful poems.
I had hoped, when I started taking these images starting
back in the late '70s, that--
well I felt they needed a voice.
I mean, I hope that they speak for themselves,
but I also felt that to really speak of this land required
a voice that I didn't have, one from someone who lived in it
and in whom the spirit of the people lived as well.
So it was a wonderful thing that I was able to meet with Laura
and complete this work.
I started photographing, as I said, in the late 1970s.
My wife and I spent a couple of Summers teaching
in what was then Navajo Community College.
It's now Diné College in Tsaile.
And that was the first time that I
began to get a real sense of what this land was about,
at least from my perspective, which
is as an urban-born astronomer with a research interest in how
stars and planets form.
So it was an interesting placement of somebody,
and I had to inculcate an awful lot
to even begin to understand the land
and also to make connections with the people.
So I hope that at least you'll find
that these images complement words which would easily
have stood on their own.
I hope that they add something to the story of Canyon de
Chelly.
Thanks.
[APPLAUSE]