Meet David Welch

David Welch is a fine-art photographer based in Sonoma County, California, whose work explores the quiet, persistent stories embedded in the American West. His practice is a sustained meditation on "what remains"—the structural biography of places shaped by time, memory, and the slow accumulation of history.

Following a career leading research and analytics teams in Silicon Valley, Welch returned to his creative roots with a forensic eye and a deep commitment to place-based storytelling. His work exists at the intersection of observation and emotion, focusing on environments where history lingers: from the skeletal, charred remains of a wildfire burn scar to the industrial "ghosts" within the abandoned naval shipyards of Mare Island.

Welch’s evocative narratives have been recognized with multiple honors from the Prix de la Photographie de Paris (Px3) and published internationally in journals such as L’Oeil de la Photographie and ICM Photography Magazine. His collections have been showcased in national juried exhibitions, including the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center and Black Box Gallery.

Welch approaches his subjects with a sense of formal isolation, treating each as a singular witness to its environment. To ensure these stories endure, each piece is produced to museum-quality standards as a limited edition archival print, utilizing Hahnemühle German Etching paper for its tactile, painterly depth, and Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl paper .

Through his non-profit photography venture, Welch donates proceeds from print sales to national parks and conservation groups that protect the wild and historic landscapes that inspire his work. To read more about his non profit focus, see the news post Why A Non-Profit and How Does it Work?

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