Hi. I’m Dave. David, if you prefer a bit more formality, but Dave should be enough for most. A few call me Davey. Dear ones. Intimates. Mentors. Children who recognize that part of me, inviting me to play. My stoic adult whispers to my inner kid that way… “Deep breaths, Davey. It’ll be ok.”
All of me shows up here: Dave, David, Davey. Taking turns at the lead. Unravelling our stories. You never know for sure just whose voice might begin some new tale or describe some new encounter, but I’m guessing you’ll be pretty clear on that by the end of the first paragraph.
In a world with ten thousand voices clamoring for your attention it’s fair to ask, why? Why me? What possibly can I offer you that you’re not finding elsewhere, or maybe just not quite enough of elsewhere?
I grew up, the inquisitive son of a scientist, a field zoologist and flight instructor who was also an amazing teacher, one of those rare souls who changed students’ lives profoundly enough that they continued to check in with him, come visit him until his passing just a few years ago, at ninety. It was he who taught me to love the questions as much as the answers, helped me craft a framework, a way of being in the world that you’ll inevitably encounter here, again and again.
There were chapters when I grew up in the field with my dad, trapping and preserving specimens for museums, exploring bat caves throughout the immensity of the South and Southwest, studying the complex interplay between life forms and their ecologies. There were others where he was somewhere way off beyond the horizon and I, a pawn of divorce decrees, neglect and abuse. Bumpy road. It got better. All of these chapters flow together to form the observer who sees and writes here. I was just twelve when I first began documenting my impressions of the living world around me with cameras. I have never stopped exploring this humbling world through lens and viewfinder, since.
They afforded a most fascinating career.
So why subscribe?
David Perry is an inspirational, storyteller/photographer living in the American Northwest, a willing teacher with a keen knack for observation and a distinct twinkle in his eye. His reverence for feathered and furred ‘beings’, for critters and bugs, and fish, for food and flowers, for farmers and gardens and forests, and the people who tend them, love them is apparent in the pictures he makes, and his playful, sometimes irreverent manner of speaking about them keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Onstage he is a spirited, dynamic speaker who makes his presentation topics memorable and relevant to audiences through the ample use of anecdote and allegory, breathtaking imagery, playful humor, and by never, ever talking down to them.
For decades, David was sent all over the world on assignment, photographing others’ stories for books and magazines, for scores of Fortune 500 annual reports and national ad campaigns. Now he tells his own stories with a soulful intimacy, honed over time and a thousand foolish battles lost and won, a way of being in and observing the world that he always hoped would get its moment if he could just hold on, just stay true, if he could only keep it alive within him until no one else had claim. …until someday.
Sometimes someday actually comes.
In The Garden Of His Imagination is an entirely reader-supported publication. and you may choose to be an important part of it. To support my storytelling work please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Subscribe to get full access to In The Garden Of His Imagination, so you’ll never miss an update or access to those stories that feel a little too vulnerable to share in a less protected forum, or to shared assignments and follow-up critiques. Subscribe because you want to be an important part of bringing these kinds of stories to light.
And for those who can’t afford or don’t yet see the value proposition in that, please do become a free subscriber to receive notifications each time I post up new content. You are most welcome here and I am most grateful.
Feel free to say hello. Leave me a note without fear of being too new or too shy to have a valued say. You’re important and this is not a place where you’ll be judged or critiqued, or looked down upon, or ever made fun of. I know too well what those things feel like.
Finally, maybe you have a friend, someone you sense might feel welcome here, as well. I’d be honored to meet him or her, or them, and humbled for the introduction.
Glad you’re here…
Dave
People Say The Kindest Things
"Soul-searching. Heartbreaking. Courageous. Magical. " Amanda
"Your writing is beautiful and teaches me an incredible amount about the natural world." Terry
"I support your work because you are an unimaginably cool fucker of a guy!" Fearless Frank
"The world is frightful and horrors abound. In lieu of constant news, doomscrolling and living in a state of permanent outrage, I am choosing to cultivate kindness. Supporting writers providing places of solitude and lyrical prose is one kind thing I can do. Thank you David from a former Washingtonian turned Kiwi. I'll continue to resist the horrors from afar and find calm and peace in your words. " Allison
"Whether through deeps, or through lightness and humor, Dave, your stories, crafted in your generous poetic voice, pull me right in to feeling the nuances of life. You know I'm gonna love this venue! I'm so happy to support you in your craft, my friend... t." Toni
"My armchair "walks" through the gardens and forests you visit are a breath of beautiful, fresh air!" Jodi
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