David Muench is an American Landscape Photographer who specializes in photographing the Western American Landscape. He has also done many freelance photographs since the 1950’s.
David was born on June 25th, 1936 in Santa Barbara California. He studied at the Rockchester Institute od Technology, The University of California and Art Cebter School of Design in California. David began exploring his passion for what he could capture in natures moment when he was just a young boy. His father a photographer, and his mother a writter, his knowledge of natures characteristics grew. The views of the wild places had became the subject for his photography. David helped his father in being a model or simply printing the white and black photographs. He first started his photographing in the late 1950s and had his first photograph published as front and back cover for Arizona Highways Magazine, files with information and tour guides for visitors. Although he learned all the technical qualities of being a photographer, he mentiones in his biography, ” I continue to learn, to expand in new directions, its is nature that remains my teacher.” His work was shown in numerous exibits in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum and Center For Creative Photography. David is also known for his book releases, ” David Muench’s National Parks” and ” TopRock”. Both these books illustrate natures most breathtaking summits of sacred sites as well as the popular and iconic national parks that millions of people visit.
In creating his early work, David used a black and white SLR Cannon camera, but during a project he took a part of for the ” World Heritage Sites”, he learned to photograph with a digital camera. We see that most of his work is done with a digital camera with few balck and white exceptions. Some of his most amazing photographs include the ” Snake River Overlook”, photographed in 196 in the Grand Tento National Park, “Start- Wheel from 1978 in City of Rocks, New Mexico, ” The White River View” 1994, “TidePool-Sunset”1990 in Santa Cruz California and ” ToroWeap East Colorado River Sunrise” 1996 in Grand Canyon Nation Park.
David Muench work can also be found on the website http://www.outdoorphotographer.com along with his son’s Marc Muench’s work who also does nature and landscape photography. The artist currently has an exibition at the G2 Gallery of Nature and Wildlife Photography located in Venice California.
Last summer I visited few art and photography galleries while being in Krakow, Poland. One of them was the Pauza Gallery located just few minutes from the main street of Krakow. There were two exibitions featuring Nature Photography, and among many Polish artists, I saw the works of American Photographers, one being David Muench with only about five of his famous photographs. His photography is very similar to mine. I think it is why I enjoy his work because it seems like my and his photographs were taken by the same individual, only his being better quality.
I also went to a workshop held at the NY City Sierra Club Photography Committee where David Muench work was also spoken of by the guest speakers. So it was a workshop where anyone can come in and be a part of, from professional nature, and landscape photographers to just lovers of nature photographs. The meetings were held in few places in Manhattan but I went to the David Rose Building at Lincoln Center. The members of the club brought their work and showed a slideshow describing their photographs and the ideas they were going after. David Muench work was in the complementary slideshow, where few great lanscape photographs are shown and studied by those who are in the meeting.
A Photograph Will Speak Of What Cannot Be Said 