Oneness: “Seeing” Time and the Wonder of Life Emerge in the Everyday

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FOURCY Radio. What's Working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the

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answer to this question. People ache
for meaning and purpose at work, to

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Business can be such a force for
good in the world, elevating humanity.

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In our program, we provide guidance
and inspiration to help usher in this

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world we all want Working on Purpose. Now, here's your host, doctor

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Elise Cortes. Welcome back to the
Working on Purpose program. Thanks for joining

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again this week. Great to have
you. This program has been brought to

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you with passion and price. Since
February of twenty fifteen, it's also been

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ranked on the top ten most inspirational
leadership podcast on the web. I'm your

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host, doctor Release Cortes. I'm
joining you from San Antonio, Texas instead

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of home, Dallas. I'm on
the road here doing a program for U

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T Austin. If we haven't met
before and you don't know me, I'm

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an organizational psychologist and local therapist,
speaker and author. My team and I

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at Gusto Now help companies to enliven
and fortify their operations by building a culture

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and leadership activated by meaning and purpose
our missions to help our clients create a

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destination workplace where people flocked to join
are integerly motivated to perform at their best,

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can grow to their full potential,
and are committed to stay and dynamic

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all which translate to higher profits for you.

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You can learn more about us and
how we can work together at gustodashnow

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dot com and my personal site at
Leastcortes dot com. Getting into today's program

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we have with us today David Alexander. He's the president and co founder of

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x stam a digital asset management to
fortune five hundred organizations, including NBC,

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Universal, Viacom, the Hallmark Channel. Over his commercial career, he photographed

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the Eagles Hotel California album cover,
the Blues Brothers album covers and movie poster,

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and the Terminator movie poster, among
so many others. He is a

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photographer and author of Pictures of Time, Seeing Time the Ordinary World, one

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of the topics of our conversation today. He joined it today from his home

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in Ashland, Oregon. David,
welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank you,

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Elise, appreciate it. It's really
really great to have you. I

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really was looking forward to our conversation. I loved your beautiful, beautiful book.

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David. We can start there,
maybe just what you got out of

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them that I want to maybe surface, what you were, why you created

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it, and what you hope it
does. But for me, David,

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just as a start, I really
was compelled at how you arrange the images,

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you know, where humans were seeming
to either mimic nature or vice versa,

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or perhaps together the energies. Maybe
we're colliding, is what it's I

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saw. The I saw the oneness
basically of a lot in a lot of

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your photos, and just I was
so compelled by just the striking beauty of

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nature and the wildly interesting nature of
people, and that you captured this stuff

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like like literally in a moment in
time. And so that I'll just start

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with that as to really what was
compelling to me about what you've created and

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marveled at your ability to see in
a way that gave us a view into

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those pictures that maybe we wouldn't ever
discover on our own. Wow. Well,

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thank you. First of all,
I really appreciate your insights and that

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you got that and that you got
that from the book. So in my

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commercial work, as you alluded to, I photographed people. I photographed a

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lot of people, and a lot
of them were a lot of them were

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celebrities. But the more I did
it, the more I saw just people.

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The more I saw people, the
more I saw life, and I

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saw elements of life where I knew
that if you looked closely enough, you

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could really see how life works just
by looking at people. And once I,

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once I had that insight, I
knew that I was going to have

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to move on from commercial work and
explore what really was this idea? And

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that's what Pictures of time. Is. It took me about thirty five years

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of work to really become clear about
what this work is and what it's about.

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And as you said, I see, I really see the inter connectedness

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of life, and that's what the
book's about. It's seeing how you know

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there really isn't a difference. I
don't see differences anymore between living forms.

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With a flower, a person,
a finger, a bird, We're all

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made up of the same things and
we're all the same things and it's beautiful.

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As you said, I what a
way to start this program, David.

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So I'm not quite on your level
yet because I haven't had the exposure

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to to what you've had. But
what I will share with you because I

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I I'm very, very interested in
the idea of oneness this and I believe

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strongly in the concept of oneness.
I had Steve Ferrell on my program who

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started the Team Humanity, I think
is what he calls the organization, and

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he's all about this notion of oneness. I'm really where I've come to so

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far in my path is I really
totally can see the beautiful, tender interdependence

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of all of life. And I
got that because of watching My Octopus Teacher

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at the documentary. Have you seen
it? By chance? No, you're

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what teacher? Did you call my
Octopus teaching? Oh? Yes, I

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did great? Right, And so
for me, what I got out of

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that was, I just was so
clear because of the way the photography,

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the cinematography and the narration that you
know that there's that beauty, this this

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recognition that we're all on this planet
together and all these systems that work,

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you know, the forest system,
the ocean system, the air system.

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It's a system, and so and
we have a we're in this system.

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We're part of it, and it's
part of us. And so I can

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that I can discern that I can
understand so far today, and your work

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is always is clearly you know,
at other levels above that. Well,

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you know that's interesting because based on
everything you just said, I think this

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could be the end of the interview. It's a wrap. Here we go

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five minutes and seven minutes in.
What what I think is particularly interesting about

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my work is that it's photography.
It's just seeing the everyday world and what's

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around us and often really hidden in
plain sight, just everywhere, Like I

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lift my hand like this and I
move it like that, and it reflects

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movements and forms and shapes of really
almost everything else that's alive and natural in

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the world. And it's just a
matter of taking a moment, taking a

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deep breath. In my case,
I'm a photographer, and I see,

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I look, I look very carefully, and and I'm really this work is

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it's it's been about my visual observation
of the world that I then photograph.

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It's extraordinary. It's it's how I
see life now. M Well, so

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part of what's happened in my evolution, David, I'm I guess I'm trained

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as an organizational psychologist, so I'm
a management consultant. I'm a log with

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therapist. I love, you know, the the the element of life that's

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really emotional, social, spiritual,
and I'm really interested in lately I've had

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topics people on that are talking about
things like wonder and awe, and I'm

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very interested in the idea of the
various kinds of awe that the University of

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Berkeley has put forth, one of
them, of course, being you know,

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the nature. And I'm one of
those people who can be completely moved

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to tears by just a beautiful,
stunning sunrise and being connected to the notion

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that we're all connected to the oneness
piece of it, and so I'm definitely

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interested. I had one of the
questions I wanted to ask you is how

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your photographs, especially the ones in
Pictures of Time, illustrates, are that

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the integral connection to the natural world? How, in your words your eyes

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does it illustrate that? Right?
You know, as you said in your

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introduction, it's actually the paid spreads. In many cases, it's you know,

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I believe that each end of vial
picture stands on its own, tells

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its own story. But when you
see a picture of a tree and a

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picture of a flower, or a
hand or an arm, and you'd see

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the connection, you get that it's
just life, that we're all connected,

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and that's that's really The graphic designer, Tommy Steele was a brilliant graphic designer

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and I, as we were putting
the book together, we understood that it

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was the page spreads that really tell
the stories in the book. Yeah.

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Well, for those people who don't
really know what you mean by that,

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including myself, page spreads, what
do you mean? Well, it just

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happened. When I have a book
here, luck, what have its each

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page bread is when you open the
book and you're looking at two pages,

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that's a page bread, okay,
okay, and it's and the story.

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The story is the resonance between the
pictures, all the pictures in it's spread,

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and so for me, part of
them. What I feel is the

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magic of the book is that each
time you turn the page, you're really

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getting a different story about life and
really connections that go back to the beginning

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of time. And if you feel
that, if you're open to that,

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and all the incredible number of hours
that I've spent photographing and seeing, that's

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really I mean, I feel that
I see that it's not it's not really

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a philosophy. It's my experience.
It's my experience of life. M One

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of the many reasons I wanted to
have you on the program, David,

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is that I of course people are
my general jam that's who I work with,

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right However, I just I'm so
aware of how much we can learn

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from and be inspired and lifted when
we really connect with nature, and I'm

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really interested in like, for example, I've just lost the name of the

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company, but they were the carpet
company that started in the eighties or whatever,

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and then really realized how they were
destroying the planet, and then they

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went out to really create a sustainable
carpet company. And part of what they

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did in order to do that,
I hope I can remember the name of

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that so that I can pass that
on to There's a documentary out on it,

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which is part of the reason I
know about it. But part of

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what they did in order to turn
their company around is they turned to nature.

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How does nature handle color variation,
how does nature handle decomposition, et

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cetera. And they incorporated that those
kinds of designs into their carpets so that

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they can become biodegradable instead of lasting
for generation or eternity. Perhaps that's incredibly

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inspiring, so that for me,
I'm very interested in giving nature it's due

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in a way certainly that puts it
in its rightful, beautiful, reverent place

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and also helps we humans be lifted
by the fact that we're connected to that,

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right we're part of that right Well, that well, that's fantastic.

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I'd love to know the name of
that carpet company using you know, as

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we know, pigments, the original
colors in in you know, amazing paintings

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that you know medieval Renaissance. We're
from natural substances. You know that that

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everything really evolved from natural things.
And you know, as as time has

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gone on, we've learned to to
make a lot of you know, there's

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been a lot of a lot of
chemicals have entered into our lives in ways

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that you know are are good and
complicated. Yes, yeah, I want

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to go there next. Before we
do, I did remember the CEO's name.

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His name is Ray Anderson. That
will help inter interface. I think

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it's called Interface. It's the name
of the carpet company the mind originally gets

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there. So one thing I did
want to ask you about, which I've

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been already you know, intrigued with
myself as is some of your you know,

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some of the exquisite beauty of some
of the flowers and plants that you

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have in your book are so they're
alluring and there and and they of course

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to me, hint a little bit
in some cases of certainly sensuality sexuality,

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And I wanted if you could just
speak to a little bit about what you've

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learned about that or if that's so
or for you, or what you what

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your experience has been. Sure,
So when I photographed people. When I

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record album covers and movie posters was
mainly the work, the commercial work that

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I did. I saw there were
certain forms and certain shapes and certain ways

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that people express themselves. That's what
I carried over into this work. So

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when I photographed a flower or a
tree or whatever, it doesn't it doesn't

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matter what it is, as long
as it's alive or natural. I really

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see the same forms and shapes that
I learned from the you know, incredible

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number of hours that I spent photographing
people, and so to me, I'm

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really seeing the same thing. One
of the things that's that's really become particularly

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interesting to me. Just in the
last week or two, I've been going

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over my old commercial work and trying
to organize it, probably into a into

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another book, and I've started seeing
connections between those foot crafts and the photographs

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and pictures of time, which I
didn't even realize. I wasn't I wasn't

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even aware of. I have a
picture I don't I don't know if you

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can see this, So okay,
if I open this up again, so

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this page is there's a man and
a woman yes each other on the Pompadou

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Plaza in Paris, and these are
some trees that are really in the same

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form, hugging each other. Yes, And I've found in my commercial work

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a photograph of Donna Summer that she
looks exactly like that. She stays.

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She's so beautiful and shapely and sensuous, and she's in a moment where she

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has her arm wrapped around herself in
a way. It's the same picture.

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Yeah. And I've started seeing that
in a lot of the work I've done,

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which really says to me, I'm
really I'm really advanced. I've just

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you know, I've just broadened the
scope of what I do. I think

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I've always been. I've always been
searching for the same thing, which is

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really interesting because, as you may
know, I went to law school.

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I graduated from law school, and
I just knew that law wasn't the right

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It wasn't the right direction for me. But but with law being all about

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words and language, you know it
was it was, it just spoke to

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me that I needed to do pictures. The world needs this of you.

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David. Hang on with that,
because I do want to talk more about

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just what started the law and how
you got away from it. But let's

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take our first break, I'm your
host, doctor re Lea's Cortes. We've

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been on the air with David Alexander. He's the president and co founder of

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Exstam, a digital asset management to
fortune five hundred organizations, including NBC,

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Universal, Viacom, and the Hallmark
Channel. I've been talking a bit about

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his book and just what it suggests
about oneness in life. We're going to

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continue the conversation after the break.
Stay with us. Doctor Elise Cortes is

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a management consultant specializing in meaning and
purpose. An inspirational speaker and author,

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she helps companies visioneer for greater purpose
among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired leadership and

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meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment,
performance, and commitment within the workforce.

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To learn more, or to invite
a lease to speak to your organization,

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please visit her at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your

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employees working on purpose. This is
working on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes.

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To reach our program today or to
open a conversation with Elise, send an

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email to Alise A. L Se
at elisecortes dot com. Now back to

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working on purpose. Thanks for staying
with us and welcome back to Working on

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Purpose. I'm your host, doctor
Alice Cortes. We've been on the air

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with David Alexander. He's a photographer
and author of pictures, author and photographer

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of pictures of Time, Seeing time
in the ordinary world. So a lot

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of people who listen to this program, David are interested in finding a way

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to move from a career that isn't
satisfying, isn't meaningful. They want more,

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They want more, something that's more
meaningful, more purposeful, but they

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don't know how to do it.
And I part of the reason I started

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the show is I wanted to provide
examples of how people had sprung themselves into

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more of a right field. So
how did you figure out? Well,

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how did you make you made that
you already knew that you figured out,

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But how did you make the leap
from law to being a commercial photographer.

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That's quite a chasm, my friend. And you know when I by the

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time I graduated law school, i'd
been in school long enough so long couldn't

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go to photography school. I needed
I needed to just learn photography, and

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so I got I got a camera
in my second year of law school.

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I started taking pictures, and I
had a couple of friends in law school,

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one of whom was a photographer and
the uh the Harvard Crimson when he

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went to Harvard and Andy, they
gave me a couple of tips. I

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put built a dark room in art
in the bathroom that I share for my

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roommate. Not particularly fair for him, but that's the way I was.

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And I just started shooting and making
pictures. It was something I knew I

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had to do. I knew I
couldn't practice law. I don't know if

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any of the people you're referring to. It's really interesting that people who really

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feel they need to make a change. I think that it's it's so individual.

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Everyone's got a figure it out for
themselves. There's no there's no set

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path. My path was struggle,
really yeah. I mean, you know,

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I was from Los Angeles, went
back to LA after graduating from law

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school and really started knocking on doors
and just you know, shooting, making

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pictures, trying to build a portfolio, getting rejections. You know, it

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was pretty It was really hard,
and gradually one one thing led to another.

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I'll share one thing. I don't
know if this relates to anything anybody

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else wants to know. But when
I was in law school, I went

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and met with a photographer who I
read about was giving a I don't know,

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a summer workshop or something like that. And he was a teacher at

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Art Center School of Design in LA
And the first thing he said to me,

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I told him, I not on
his door. He didn't know me.

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I didn't know him, but he
was incredibly nice, and I wish

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I could remember his name. It
was amazing. And really what he said

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was, you don't need to go
to photography school. Here's what you do.

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And he said, you shoot the
same subject ten days in a row,

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and these are the days of film. I only shot film, by

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the way, commercially, never at
digital. And then do it differently each

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day, and you begin to expand
the way you see. You force yourself,

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and after ten days, pick another
subject and you know that may be

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broader. It was brilliant advice.
I never did it formally, but it

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was always in my mind as I
was doing my work. I never wanted

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to shoot the same picture twice.
I always pushed myself to do something I

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had never done, and I thought
nobody else had ever done. So I

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was always taking risks. Risks when
I was shooting, I scared myself a

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great deal much of the time.
But that advice about expanding the way you

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think in the new area that you
want to grow in and figuring out how

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to do that, that was amazing
advice. I mean, I can still

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tell you that from my heart because
it really it really resonated with me.

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Well, thank you for sharing that. And one of the things that I

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mentioned just before we went on the
break that I just it bears repeating,

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but I just think how the world
would have had a loss if you didn't

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if you had gone the law route, if you hadn't listened and just you

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know, followed that compunction and followed
this and you know, knocked on those

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doors, we wouldn't have gotten your
unique window to the world. And that's

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why I'm such a I'm a proponent
of purpose and meaning only you can see

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something through your unique lens of purpose. And so I'm interested David too.

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And you have this very unique way
of helping people to understand, you know,

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the revealing the behind of the scene
view of life and time through your

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work. What have you learned,
like help us get help us come behind

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that curtain with you. What have
I learned? You know, I've really

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well, I've learned sort of everything
you've meant to. I've learned how all

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of life is connected. I've I've
learned that very really is no difference between

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you know, my hand and an
animal's paw or hand, or a bird's

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claw, or a tree or a
tree branch. And and and it's I

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think the biggest lesson is the humility
that you that you get from that you

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you you know, you're not that
important you and as you said earlier,

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you know we're or maybe you said
before we before we got on the show,

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like when you watch a sunrise or
something. It's all part of us,

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everything in our everyday world. You
know, we were so busy.

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We're caught up in all the things
that you know, gotta pay bills,

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gotta do this, got social this, that and the other. But the

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fact is we live in an amazing, magical world that's full of all of

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these deeper truths that are all around
us. If we begin to open ourselves

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up to that, it will change
us. And it's certainly changed me.

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Now you're talking my love language,
David, that is I completely agree with

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that. And part of what I'm
trying to do by in my own journey

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and also as I share guests like
you, is I really want us to

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move away from this anthropore worph per
centric view. However you say that word,

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focus on humans and really, you
know, be reverent and just let

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the beauty and magnificence of nature and
all other lives wash over us. And

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that's part of why I wanted to
have you on is. I think the

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world desperately needs that, and I
think if we could do more of that,

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people would be more healthy, more
vital. We would probably see less

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crime and violence and all kinds of
things, and so we would get along

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better. We would get along better. I'm creating a new course, and

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once I do it, David,
I know it's going to involve nature.

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I'm going to tell you about it
because I'm going to want your perspective on

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it. But I'm with you soldiers
in arms here, David. Okay,

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So then where I want to go
next. We're still on the plant thing

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here is I'm really interested and I've
been kind of investigating this myself. But

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how have you seen flowers and plants
that grow together come to share an affinity

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for each other, and I love, I love, I love that question.

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So you know, there have been
all these studies and books the last

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so many years about how trees communicate
with each others through their roots. Well,

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I'm out so and once I left
Los Angeles and moved to southern Oregon,

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I've spent We lived on sixty acres
for quite a while, which was

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connected to a lot more open acreage, and I was out all the time,

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walking and photographing and watching over sixteen
years, changes and behaviors and movements

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of everything that was out there.
And it was real clear to me that,

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you know, I just asked myself, Well, if trees communicate them

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people, why don't all other life
forms communicate with each other? So when

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I see flowers and I know,
we can say it's a coincidence, we

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can say it's a metaphor. I
don't believe that. When when when you

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see and there are pictures in my
book of this, you see the leaves

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of daisies touching each other, they're
in contact and they may well like trees,

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be in contact in the ground too, and they're you know, what

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does it mean? How do you
know? Are they supporting each other?

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Are they protecting each other. Are
they forming a community like we hear about

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and read about with trees? Who
knows? But maybe, But I believe

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it's true with everything. How do
we know? How do you and I

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know we're communicating with each other.
We just we do it the way humans

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do it. But it doesn't mean
it's the only way to communicate, for

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species to communicate with each other,
and it's the whole world opens up that

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way, m hm. And that
goes back to the oneness that you were

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talking about. I read somewhere,
and I want to do more investigation into

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this, but I read somewhere that
trees will actually cooperate with each other such

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that if one is not getting enough
water another will, you know, either

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cut off its own supply or make
something available to this other tree. And

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same thing with protecting against some diseases. So in other words, they're cooperating

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with each other to survive and thrive. And I think that's magnificent. It's

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also a fundamental quality of life.
And that and that's you you're asking what

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have I learned? What are you
learning? You know? What are what

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are we doing? That's these are
the things that you learn when you open

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yourself up to this stuff that life
is. Life is really usually supportive inherently

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so, and so what I of
course want to help create a more you

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know, a place where people can
realize their potential. They're they're living their

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purpose, they're contributing from their purpose. And it seems to me that if

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we could better understand that we are
really so supported by everything and we're all

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connected by all that, that we
be fortified in that journey, right,

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And it's not just and we can
support everything else too. We're just we're

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integrated. We're integrated into into the
hole and it's it's really extraordinary when you

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when you take that in. You
know, I'm going to interrupt this for

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one second. I just want to
thank you. You know, I'm I'm

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learning a lot in this conversation.
This is cool. Thank you, David.

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I love that. Thank you so
much. It's wonderful to be able

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to converse with a fellow traveler that
has some similar interest. It's wonderful.

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And to that end, because I
do want. Part of what I'm doing

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on the planet is I am out
to awaken people that they can do more,

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they can serve more. And I'm
interested in you know, if we

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could see through your eyes, through
your photographs and through your book, then

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I think that we we could become
really better stewards of the planet, just

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like my octopus teacher really elevated my
understanding of the tender interdependence of all species

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and wanting to walk more softly on
the planet, being much more choiceful of

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my waist and how do I recycle, and my in choosing who do I

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want to buy products from because I
support the way that they practice sustainability or

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something else. So I'm interested in
how your work can really help us be

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better stewards too of the planet.
All right, well, thank you,

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you know, I mean, I'm
I will keep doing what I do,

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and frankly, it gets deeper and
deeper. I'm about I don't know.

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I would guess eighty percent finished with
the photography for the second Pictures of timebook,

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and it just keeps opening up.
I keep seeing more connections, more

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life that is interconnected and expressing itself, you know, part of it.

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I'm going to get back to something
I started to say before about the connection

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between the commercial work I did and
what I'm doing now. I see personality

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and character in every living thing that
you know, a blade of grass is

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as alive as I am, and
that if I if I know how to

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look, how to look carefully at
a blade of grass or anything else alive,

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I can learn everything I need to
know about life. And it's just

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my own inhibitions, my own limitations
that might keep me from from really being

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able to see that clearly. But
I'm trying, and that's what That's what

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that's what this work is about.
It's unbelievable. Well, I love that,

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David. We're going to take our
next break and you definitely are coming

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back on when you get that next
book out, So just be where you've

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been warned you're coming back. I'm
your host doctor. Really score te as

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We've been on the year with David
Alexander. He is president and co founder

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of x stam, a digital asset
management to Fortune five in her companies including

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NBC, Universal, Viacom, and
the Hallmark Channel. He has photographed such

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amazing icons as the Eagles Hotel California
album cover, the Blues Brothers album covers,

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then movie poster, and the Terminator
movie poster, among so many others.

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Are so much to this man.
We'll be right back. We're going

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to get a little bit deeper.
Doctor Elise Courts has as a management consultant

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00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:49.160
specializing in meaning and purpose. An
inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies

396
00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:53.559
visioneer for a greater purpose among stakeholders
and develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infused

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00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:59.440
cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance,
and commitment within the workforce. To learn

398
00:32:59.480 --> 00:33:02.359
more or to invite Elise to speak
to your organization, please visit her at

399
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:07.359
elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about
how to get your employees working on purpose.

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This is working on Purpose with doctor
Elise Cortes. To reach our program

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00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:22.279
today or to open a conversation with
Elise, send an email to Elise A.

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00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:28.279
L i Se at eliscortes dot com. Now back to working on Purpose.

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Thankteresting with us, and welcome back
to working on Purpose. I'm your

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host, doctor Elise Cortes. We've
been on the air with David Alexander.

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He's a photographer and author and photographer
of pictures of Time, seeing time in

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the ordinary world. So I'm going
to just start this next bit here with

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00:33:47.880 --> 00:33:52.519
just maybe a really good fun zinger, and that is what is time?

408
00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:55.519
Now that you've been doing this and
you've been steeped in this What is time

409
00:33:55.720 --> 00:34:00.240
for you? David? Right?
Right? Good? I mean that is

410
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:01.960
that is the question. It really
has to be asked, doesn't it.

411
00:34:04.200 --> 00:34:12.079
For sure, it's a part of
this work. I've I've read books about

412
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.960
time. There's an amazing book by
the physicist Alan Lightman that you may have

413
00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:27.000
read called Einstein's Dreams, which is
basically a creative exploration into any number of

414
00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:34.280
forms of time. And it really
it really challenges your ability to think.

415
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:39.719
And it's a really fairly simple book
to read. Uh. You know,

416
00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:45.239
my my experience is, I don't
know if I can separate time and life.

417
00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:51.559
You know it's time. I can't. I can't really say what it

418
00:34:51.719 --> 00:34:58.000
is, Like I can say what
my phone is. But but time is,

419
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:01.079
you know, I know it's or
part of time. We're part of

420
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:06.760
the flow of time, whatever time
is. I know that we're connected to

421
00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:13.719
the beginning of time, and we're
connected to the unknowable future of time.

422
00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:21.639
And I look at the photographs that
I make as opening up a window.

423
00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:25.800
If they're successful, if they like
communicate to you or to other people who

424
00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:30.440
look at them, I look at
them as opening up a window to time.

425
00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:37.480
Where you can since the beginning,
Like the one page spread in the

426
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:40.960
book, there's a just a tree
and it's a branch of a tree,

427
00:35:42.119 --> 00:35:49.079
and there's a man sitting in an
art museum in France pointing at a painting

428
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:52.480
to the person next to him,
and they're identical. His arm in the

429
00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:58.800
branch, and you know they had
to be connected at some point in the

430
00:35:58.840 --> 00:36:04.880
beginning of time. I see the
beginning of time there branches and arms and

431
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:07.800
legs, and you know, like
we look at trees and we see,

432
00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:14.639
you know, things that look like
human parts, and because we're we're human,

433
00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:20.000
we filter everything through the way the
way we think. I had a

434
00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:27.639
philosophy teacher in junior college who said
he liked saying if horses had gods,

435
00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:35.320
they'd be horses and their gods would
be horses. And it's like every species

436
00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:42.840
these sees things through their own filters, and so you know, I'm trying

437
00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:45.440
to break through that actually, but
it is, you know, I'm a

438
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:49.599
person, and this is it's the
way, it's the way I work.

439
00:36:49.719 --> 00:36:53.639
But in pictures of time, you
can see these connections and they're real.

440
00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:59.239
If there's just one, it's you
know, a coincidence. Or a metaphor

441
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:05.039
or whatever. When you see the
scope of the book, I think you

442
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:09.679
begin to see the larger picture that
it's real and you can imagine. And

443
00:37:09.719 --> 00:37:16.119
this takes imagination the unknowable future of
how things will evolve. You know,

444
00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:21.199
they will evolve, how they'll evolve. We can't know that, but we

445
00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:27.800
can imagine it. It's inherent,
I think in the moments and the connections

446
00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:34.920
among the photographs in the book.
So beautiful, so alluring. That's another

447
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:37.679
thing that I that the philosophy piece
is interesting to me, and that's where

448
00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:40.119
I wanted to go next. Is
I wanted to have you touch a little

449
00:37:40.119 --> 00:37:46.239
bit on just some of the philosophical
and definitely spiritual themes that you're wanting to

450
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:52.119
surface or put forth or treat in
your book or your work. Well,

451
00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:59.079
you know, it's pretty much everything
that we've talked about. It's it's really

452
00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:05.440
it's that humbling appreciation of life.
It is. It is really true.

453
00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:10.480
I know this sounds maybe unbelievable,
but it is really true that I no

454
00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:19.800
longer see the difference between me and
a flower or a leaf. I feel,

455
00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:22.760
you know, you think of a
leaf, what do leafs do?

456
00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:30.119
They absorb? Sunlight and they feed
trees. They have this job and then

457
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:35.519
they then they complete their purpose and
they fall off and we step on them

458
00:38:35.639 --> 00:38:38.960
or we sweep them up, and
we you know, in the meantime they've

459
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:45.360
performed this heroic feat of life,
of sustaining life. And you know,

460
00:38:45.559 --> 00:38:51.800
we can we can think of so
much in life the same way. And

461
00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:59.800
that's that's really what underlies, you
know, and it expanded my understanding of

462
00:38:59.880 --> 00:39:06.559
life. And it's just I really
want to stress this that photographers aren't scientists.

463
00:39:06.840 --> 00:39:09.360
We're not, you know, we
we don't. We just see what's

464
00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:15.320
there. But this is I'm just
speaking as a photographer, not as a

465
00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:19.440
scientist, although I've been reading a
lot of science these last so many years

466
00:39:19.719 --> 00:39:23.360
because I'm curious about about a lot
of of what's underlying a lot of this

467
00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:32.000
stuff. But the fact is it's
there to be seen and photographs so so,

468
00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:39.000
you know, scientists use amazing microscopes
to look at the details of quantum

469
00:39:39.079 --> 00:39:44.719
particles and that, you know,
the basic elements that make up life.

470
00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:51.559
And they use unbelievable telescopes that are
now in the sky or networked across the

471
00:39:52.159 --> 00:40:00.039
Earth that are like seeing into you
know, the universe itself and on in

472
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:04.280
the middle level. What I think
of as the middle level is the level

473
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:08.360
we live on. We're not on
the quantum level. We're not out in

474
00:40:08.519 --> 00:40:14.159
space. We live in this level
where we interact with each other. And

475
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:21.519
on this level we can see a
lot of a lot of things that open

476
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:28.079
up the view of what the quantum
scientists are seeing and what the astronomers are

477
00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:34.199
seeing. It's all in front of
us. It's all the time anywhere in

478
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:39.760
the world and on Earth. It's
just I'm amazed. Honestly, I live

479
00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:44.679
my life in kind of amazement these
days. Well, and I want more

480
00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:45.960
of us to do that, David. It's a lot of time to get

481
00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:50.000
here. I can do yes,
I get it. I get it.

482
00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:52.400
But I want more people to do
that because again, I think it makes

483
00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:54.880
for a better human existence and a
better world. And on the tree front,

484
00:40:54.960 --> 00:40:59.400
David, this is something that I've
been experiencing for a long time.

485
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:02.679
I'll say to you things on this
I'm just playing with nature. I'm a

486
00:41:02.719 --> 00:41:06.320
I'm a runner. That wasn't until
I broke my foot five weeks ago.

487
00:41:06.639 --> 00:41:12.800
Now I've got these fun friends called
crutches, but anyway, they're my constants.

488
00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:15.519
But I love to run, and
I love running outside, and I

489
00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:19.639
live, you know, in a
treed neighborhood. And I have been so

490
00:41:19.719 --> 00:41:22.199
aware of this. I can't tell
you countless times, David, when I'm

491
00:41:22.199 --> 00:41:24.719
out running, and especially there are
times when I noticed one maybe either I'm

492
00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:30.559
feeling a little tired or you know, I'm struggling, I'm dragging. I'm

493
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:35.920
really present that I'm not running under
a tree and the leaves are falling.

494
00:41:36.199 --> 00:41:38.880
The tree is tossing a leaf down
to me to see if I can catch

495
00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:43.840
it. She's playing with me.
That's how it occurs for me. And

496
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:45.719
I've told people that and they're like, Okay, she's a little out there.

497
00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:49.239
I mean, what whatever, That's
how I That's how it occurs for

498
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:53.679
me and my my one of my
favorite animals is an owl. And what

499
00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:58.880
I just what, I just what? I what I discovered accidentally. I

500
00:41:58.920 --> 00:42:00.760
came home one night and in the
dark, about eight o'clock, and I

501
00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:06.280
got out of my car and over
my head in my driveway I heard who

502
00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:10.760
So I did what any human being
would do. I turned my head up

503
00:42:10.760 --> 00:42:16.639
to the sky and I returned who
Oh. He responded he or she responded

504
00:42:16.679 --> 00:42:20.840
with another who, And then I
was like, well who. So we

505
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:24.920
had this volley and I realized I'm
talking to an owl. So I ran

506
00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:29.400
into my house and said to my
dar, said, Gatty, come out

507
00:42:29.400 --> 00:42:31.800
here. I'm talking to an owl. And by this time, you know,

508
00:42:31.800 --> 00:42:35.079
I'd run over to the front door, and now he hopped over to

509
00:42:35.079 --> 00:42:37.440
another branch to continue the conversation.
Like he was like, where you're going?

510
00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:43.199
We're talking, right, And she
goes she's hiding behind the door.

511
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:45.400
She's like, how's are mean.
I'm like, not this one. We're

512
00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:52.239
talking. But what I'm amazed at
is I I find if can just give

513
00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:55.480
ourselves over a little bit, just
what happens, what opens And I don't

514
00:42:55.559 --> 00:43:00.599
know he or she was just I
don't know, but in my view,

515
00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:02.840
we were having a conversation. What's
yours? And what I just shared with

516
00:43:02.880 --> 00:43:07.880
you? Am I just crazy?
Well? So I went some years ago,

517
00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:13.159
twenty five years ago, I went
to Kenya with some friends of mine

518
00:43:13.719 --> 00:43:22.199
who my old buddy had been a
teacher there for thirteen years and he got

519
00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:27.800
to know the Massai people and he
would bring his school classes out there and

520
00:43:28.199 --> 00:43:31.719
they would live with the Massai for
a period of time. And so we

521
00:43:31.760 --> 00:43:39.159
went back to this area which was
really remote where they live, because they

522
00:43:39.960 --> 00:43:45.760
welcomed him back. He's an old
friend. And then we went camping,

523
00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:52.079
backpacking with a group of Massie people, one of whom whose name is Moses.

524
00:43:53.800 --> 00:44:01.760
Excuse me. He could talk to
He knew every bird, all the

525
00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:07.719
monkeys, all that, he knew
the sounds of every animal that was out

526
00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:13.599
there. And while we were there, he was having conversations like you're talking

527
00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:19.199
about, but deep conversations because he
he would do the tones and the sounds.

528
00:44:19.719 --> 00:44:23.760
It was. It was mind blowing
and how natural. And this you

529
00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:28.800
know, this is a guy who
just grew up in the forest there and

530
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:34.639
paid attention and that's you know.
So yeah, no, it's good.

531
00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:38.519
Good for you. So I'll share
something with you that I'm not sure i've

532
00:44:38.559 --> 00:44:45.320
ever told anybody else about when when
when I'm because this is going to sound

533
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.719
as weird or weirder than what you
said about the tree. When when I'm

534
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:53.480
out photographing and i'm and I'm open, it's not always the case. I'm

535
00:44:53.480 --> 00:44:59.400
not always as open as I am
at other times to what's around me him,

536
00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:02.239
particularly in nature. But it's also
true when I photograph people, but

537
00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:07.639
particularly in nature. You know you're
photographing, say a tree, Well,

538
00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:13.000
every leaf is amazing. Every leaf
is unique, every branch, every part,

539
00:45:13.159 --> 00:45:20.360
every everything you see is equally as
amazing as everything else. But I

540
00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:31.000
actually hear something like almost speak to
me and as photograph me or it's and

541
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:35.679
you know, and if you really
pay attention, you can hear that all

542
00:45:35.719 --> 00:45:40.079
over you know. But but that's
that's what often now most of the time

543
00:45:40.519 --> 00:45:46.519
guys made a photograph the actual things
that I photograph that I just there is

544
00:45:46.559 --> 00:45:53.960
something some connection that that just draws
me to something, and I actually hear

545
00:45:54.039 --> 00:46:01.400
it sometimes when I'm really open as
almost a sound. I'm pretty sharing that

546
00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:07.679
I went I went to law school, I photographed rock and roll album covers

547
00:46:07.840 --> 00:46:13.519
and movie posters, and now I'm
listening to leaves. That's pretty That's quite

548
00:46:13.519 --> 00:46:16.440
a journey, David, I like
it, definitely something to celebrate. And

549
00:46:16.599 --> 00:46:20.519
so now I think I know the
answer to the next question I wanted to

550
00:46:20.519 --> 00:46:23.280
ask, and we're almost out of
time, But I since you just said

551
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:28.320
that you will you take what compels
you, then that must mean that none

552
00:46:28.360 --> 00:46:32.679
of your pictures, especially if people
are posed. Oh never not now,

553
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:42.840
everything I did commercially was post.
No. Now it's now it's I do

554
00:46:42.960 --> 00:46:49.440
my best to be invisible or to
just you know, glendian to whatever scene

555
00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:53.199
and you know, no, I
just try to just like if I'm photographing,

556
00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:59.159
you know, something in nature,
a tree or whatever, I don't

557
00:46:59.239 --> 00:47:05.400
want to influence whatever the scene is. I want to photograph what's there,

558
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:08.920
what's happening, what's natural, and
the interactions. You know, what I

559
00:47:09.039 --> 00:47:17.599
find is that people, for the
most part, really reveal themselves when they're

560
00:47:17.880 --> 00:47:22.119
comforta where they're just walking down the
street. There's they reveal. You know,

561
00:47:22.199 --> 00:47:25.639
if you get into a conversation with
them, they might adjust and get

562
00:47:25.679 --> 00:47:32.119
tight and react and like try to
be whatever something or not. But most

563
00:47:32.119 --> 00:47:38.400
of the time people are really revealing
a deeper truth about themselves. And I'm

564
00:47:38.519 --> 00:47:45.599
loving that. I'm loving seeing that
and digging in and photographing that well and

565
00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:49.840
holding it with reverence is what I
see, holding it with reverence and respect,

566
00:47:50.360 --> 00:47:54.760
giving it its due. Yep.
So we're out of time here for

567
00:47:54.920 --> 00:47:59.440
the actual conversation until you come back
next with the next book. You know,

568
00:47:59.559 --> 00:48:01.519
this program musless to do by people
around the world, and many of

569
00:48:01.559 --> 00:48:06.880
them are interested in how to really
pay more attention to what you've done,

570
00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:10.079
really pay attention to what compels them. Where, Where does the world want

571
00:48:10.119 --> 00:48:13.880
them to go and serve from?
What would you like to leave them with,

572
00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:22.320
David, Well, I'd like to
leave them with the understanding that life

573
00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:28.199
that the world we live in is
amazing and it's just a matter of paying

574
00:48:28.239 --> 00:48:31.800
attention. It's just it's all around
us. Take a moment, take a

575
00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:37.000
deep breath and just look around,
and the people are included as there's no

576
00:48:37.840 --> 00:48:44.559
you know, there's no hierarchy.
It's all life and it's right there.

577
00:48:45.239 --> 00:48:47.519
But it also liked them to know
how to get my book. Yeah,

578
00:48:47.559 --> 00:48:51.199
well we're gonna we're going to do
that. So let me all give that

579
00:48:51.239 --> 00:48:53.519
shout out there too. But David, I am so happy to know you,

580
00:48:53.679 --> 00:48:57.199
to be connected to you, and
I can't wait to have you back

581
00:48:57.239 --> 00:49:00.519
on and keep continuing to follow your
work and be lifted by you. Thank

582
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:06.320
you for being you and honor thank
you for this conversationally. I really appreciate

583
00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:08.880
it. You're so welcome. Listeners
and viewers, you are going to want

584
00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:13.880
to learn more about David Alexander and
the work that he does and his beautiful

585
00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:16.440
new picture book called Pictures of Time, Seeing Time in the ordinary world.

586
00:49:16.760 --> 00:49:21.000
The best place to do that to
make it happen is to go to his

587
00:49:21.079 --> 00:49:25.239
website. It's Pictures of Time dot
com. You can actually get right,

588
00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:28.559
you can get the book there as
well, correct, David, Yes,

589
00:49:28.760 --> 00:49:31.800
oh yeah, there's a button to
launch to get you to the book to

590
00:49:31.800 --> 00:49:36.000
buy the book. But you can
just go on Amazon too as well.

591
00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:37.920
Okay, that's what I did.
See it on Amazon too. Okay,

592
00:49:37.920 --> 00:49:39.840
good, okay. Last week we
missed the live show. You can always

593
00:49:39.880 --> 00:49:45.039
catch it via reported podcast. We
were on the air with doctor Maya Dikovich

594
00:49:45.280 --> 00:49:47.480
talking about her new book, The
Possible Self. She taught me and our

595
00:49:47.519 --> 00:49:51.679
listeners so much about the self will
concept and how we can use it to

596
00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:54.880
encourage our own desire change, the
personal development as leaders and just people in

597
00:49:54.920 --> 00:49:59.239
general. Next week, we'll be
on the air with Jeff Wetsler talking about

598
00:49:59.239 --> 00:50:02.719
his new book Ask Tap into the
hidden wisdom of people around you for unexpected

599
00:50:02.760 --> 00:50:07.360
breakthroughs in leadership and life. See
you there. Remember work is one of

600
00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:10.880
the best means and adventures and realize
means of realizing our potential and making the

601
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:17.159
impact We crave, so let's work
on Purpose. We hope you've enjoyed this

602
00:50:17.199 --> 00:50:22.079
week's program. Be sure to tune
into Working on Purpose, featuring your host,

603
00:50:22.199 --> 00:50:25.239
doctor Elise Cortes, each week on
W four C. Why Together,

604
00:50:25.320 --> 00:50:30.719
We'll create a world where business operates
conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion performance and

605
00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:36.159
employees are fulfilled in work that provides
the meaning and purpose they crave. See

606
00:50:36.199 --> 00:50:37.239
you there, Let's work on Purpose.