Artist Statement

These images are an invitation to open our awareness and fall in love with the full coloratura of life. Listening to the voice of the leaves, we discover their sacred sound is the Twilight Language. 

The photographic process is a combination of meditation, imagination, technique, and most essentially a journey of discovery. I invite the viewers to enjoy this journey, to enjoy this dance.

Leaves hold a rich potential for connecting deeply to the most essential qualities of life. Leaves arise, dance and reflect light, enrich and give life, wither and die. They are absorbed into the earth and rise again.

This rich dance unveils a direct experience of the fleeting nature of reality. It is a precious and daring invitation for an opening of the heart; a cathartic recognition of the inseparable pair of compassion and transcendence. A discovery of the invisible ground of a sky-like awareness that plays all the notes of the heart.

 “Twilight Language” is inspired by Tibetan Buddhism's (Vajrayana) secret experiential method of teaching through metaphor, signs, and symbols. It is at twilight, a symbolic process of dying, where one may realize the true nature of oneself and begin to see what seems to die and what always lives. It is the moment where we might let go of a concretized sense of self and discover an awakened awareness of true freedom and love.

"Dance of the Leaves" is envisioned as the first movement in a larger suite of images entitled "Twilight Language".

David is available for collaborations, commissions, and commercial assignments. Photographs in this series are available for purchase, exhibition, and image licensing. Please click “Contact” to inquire.