David Spiegel

David grew up in the Seattle area, where he fell in love with nature through outdoor sports in the Pacific Northwest. He first picked up a camera during a 14-day Grand Canyon river trip at the age of 18. Little did he know that his hobby would morph into a lifelong passion and career. He moved to Colorado to pursue a degree in International Political Economy from Colorado College. After receiving his degree, he applied his passion for media to documenting watershed conservation issues in the Colorado River Basin states through the lens of a 900-mile-long river expedition in 2012.

David continues to focus on media projects that highlights watershed and landscape conservation. In 2013 he shifted his focus to large landscape conservation in the Rocky Mountains. The following year, he completed the first source-to-sea kayak expedition of the newly restored Elwha river, documenting the ongoing changes following the world’s largest dam removal project. David now travels the world with Lindblad Expeditions, works to preserve river systems in Western China and, when not traveling, now resides in Somerville, MA.