Ophthalmologist Sees & Shoots the World
Dr. David Palay travels the world and claims that Silo City, Buffalo, is his most unique setting. Previously, he took 500 shots for a medical book on eyes.
Dr. David Palay has practiced ophthalmology in Atlanta for 33 years, currently specializing in cataract surgery. One of his side passions is traveling the world to take his own photos.
Palay said, “There are so many places, but the most unique photographic trip I have taken was in Silo City in Buffalo, 2.5 million square feet of an abandoned grain processing facility spread over 12 acres along the Buffalo River.”
Later, one of his photos, “Silo City, Buffalo,” was included in a retrospective book on the facility’s workshop. Also noting the uniqueness of travel photography, Palay joked about the difficulty of traveling with others, saying, “No one wants to stand around while I compose the perfect shot. My wife is a saint and will sit patiently.”
Machu Picchu, Peru, is another of Palay’s iconic destinations. He recalled, “I was fortunate to be there with the right equipment at the right time. The result was a double rainbow over this iconic landmark right after a rainstorm passed.”
Palay has visited Italy five times in various regions. He explained, “Venice is a photographer’s dream. Every corner presents another opportunity to capture a unique image. Even more stunning than Venice is the small island of Burano (not Murano, the glass foundry). There, we found the most colorful houses, each one with its unique style.”
His photo of a spiral staircase was taken at the Volta Lighthouse in Como. Upon close examination, it has a hand on the rail midway up that adds a human element to the architectural photo. His photo of the Dolomites is a classic image of the village Saint Maddalena with the peaks in the background. In Sicily, his image was taken on top of the volcano, Mount Etna, where a hiker is perfectly positioned at the center of a white cloud on the horizon.
Another of Dr. Palay’s favorites is an image of a red bench in the window taken at the Fogo Island Inn, Newfoundland, Canada, after a violent rainstorm. He related, “The people of Fogo Island were going to be relocated off the island by the Canadian government, but a very wealthy benefactor stepped in to save the island by building a world-class vacation destination, the Fogo Island Inn.”
Perhaps his most favorite destination is the Portuguese island of Madeira, where he photographed himself high above the clouds while hiking from Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo. The hike involved narrow ridges, stairways and tunnels all above the cloud line connecting the two highest peaks on the island.
Palay developed an interest in photography at a young age. At 14, he built a darkroom in his basement. He said, “Photography was so different than today. You never really knew what your images looked like until you got into the dark room, sometimes weeks later.”
All of his work at that time was in black and white. He left photography for many years, but when he went into practice in Atlanta in the 1990s, he decided to once again build a basement darkroom. When he went to a photography store investigating darkroom equipment, the salesman queried, “Why don’t you just buy a digital camera?”
He started taking photos in the store and had an epiphany — “Digital photography was going to be the future. For the first time, you could see your images instantly, images could be viewed on your home computer, no more chemicals or darkroom work.”
Now using his Nikon D850, when he frames a photo through the viewfinder, he’s looking for balance. He explained, “It’s not something I really think about. It’s intuitive, my brain tends to recognize when the photo is equally balanced. Sometimes that is symmetry and sometimes that is leading lines in the photo that draw the viewer to the subject.”
Comparing the similarities of photography to ophthalmology, Palay notes that both are visual fields. He explains, “Ophthalmology is unique in that you can visualize and image the entire eye. I became very interested in ophthalmic photography. This eventually led me to author a book of corneal disease with over 500 photographs of every eye disease imaginable.”
Dr. Palay belongs to the Temple where his family joined in the 1960s. To view his work, please visit davidpalayphotography.smugmug.com.