David Palermo is a photographer known for capturing both distinguished residences and considered portraiture throughout Montecito, Santa Barbara, and the surrounding coastal enclaves. For nearly two decades, his work has been trusted by architects, interior designers, builders, and discerning homeowners to create imagery that reflects form, craftsmanship, and the life within a space.

His approach is guided by observation, restraint, and attentiveness to light. Whether photographing a home or a person, he is drawn to moments when structure, atmosphere, and presence align naturally.

“I’ve always been more interested in presence than performance — in waiting for the moment when something real quietly emerges.”

Palermo began photographing people in his late teens and early twenties, creating test images for fashion agencies. What stayed with him was not the industry itself, but the moment when someone saw a photograph of themselves and genuinely loved what they saw — an early lesson in the responsibility a portrait carries.

Portrait sittings are conversational and unforced, shaped by observation rather than direction.

“When I photograph someone, I’m watching for the moment when self-consciousness fades. That’s when the portrait begins.”

His understanding of light has been shaped by photographers and painters whose restraint and clarity continue to inform his work, including Paolo Roversi, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh, Rembrandt, John Singer Sargent, and Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Whether creating architectural imagery or portraiture, his intention remains consistent: to produce images that feel honest, considered, and quietly enduring — works that belong, returning value and meaning over time.