His work focuses on wildfires and their environmental impact. He began photographing wildfires in 2012 while working as an intern at the Orange County Register. As California’s drought intensified, Palley developed a specialization in wildland fire photography, undertaking formal wildland fire training and documenting nearly 200 wildfires across California and beyond.
Palley has worked as a contractor for the U.S. Forest Service in the past, photographing wildfires for the federal government at major wildfire incidents. His work has appeared in National Geographic, The Washington Post, and TIME. In 2018, he published Terra Flamma: Wildfires at Night, a photographic examination of wildfire landscapes.
Palley will document the impacts of the 2026–27 El Niño on Newport Beach and the Southern California coastline, documenting coastal flooding, erosion, and how local communities respond and adapt to changing environmental conditions.
He holds a Master of Arts in Photojournalism from the University of Missouri.