Creating a Record of California Wildfires and Climate Change with Photographer Stuart Palley

In November 2018, a series of violent fires throttled California and its surrounding landscape. Outside of Los Angeles, the Woolsey Fire resulted in a three casualties and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents. The Camp Fire, decimated the town of Paradise in Northern California, a small retirement community, which killed at least 85 people and cause 16 billion dollars in damage. It is one of the deadliest natural and social disasters on U.S. soil.

This episode of Monument Lab our guest is Photographer Stuart Palley, a photographer of the wildfires. We found Palley through his Instagram page, where during the Woolsey and Camp Fires, he shared daily updates from the frontlines, alongside firefighters, and later, search and rescue teams. Palley is creating a record of wildfires and climate change, tracing how hotter, drier conditions on the ground increase the risk of fire.

Palley has photographed for National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and in his own book Terra Flamma, a five-year visual inventory of the wildfires. Over the course of 5 years he documented nearly 100 wildfires in his home state of California. Palley is currently working on a book of fiction writing, and continues to document the wildfire crisis. You can follow him on social media @stuartpalley.

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