Illumination & Sacred Places

• architecture
• human form
• nature

This photographic series focuses on the search for self-realization, with an aim to bring love, faith, and freedom to light, to create an aura of both tranquility and clarity. Often viewers of my work speculate as to whether they are looking at a painting or photograph, but these images are also meant to bring into question whether the photograph is not only real, but also an image of a dream -- to bring a true sense of wonder to the experience.

My purpose is to subtly unveil what is beneath the surface, what is hidden behind the visible. Seeing beyond preconceived notions, beyond what is obviously in front of us, so we can develop new eyes to charter unknown territroy and to let in the light that begins to penetrate the darkness.

Is this not the case in the ascension towards the light in "Bathing in the Light", “Looking Up”, “Light Beam” and “Wonder of the World?” What does the illumination reach toward? A new direction, a glimpse or presentiment of the other side, nirvana, or even just the pathway to the vastness and glimmer of the open sky to find a little peace of mind?

Do we not each seek our transcendence individually? I witness this in the realization of architectural or artistic genius, and through the simple love of music and nature. In “Garden Grace,” there is a man sitting on a bench in Luxembourg Gardens, deep in meditation, and I wonder about his life. Was it filled with treasured memories? Did he have a great love affair, does he sit with regrets or loss? In “Foggy Ragusa” the enchanting, mysterious garden in Sicily, does it not also lure us to a sense of abandon, to a place where we can commune with nature?

- Diane Epstein