About
Me and my brother at the summit of Enchanted Rock
Charles Smith Photography
Hello and welcome to Charles Smith Photography's website and online gallery. I am an avid photographer, based out of Temple, Texas, with a wide interest in various subject matter. My interests include landscapes, nature, abstract, fine art and environmental portrait photography. I also shoot stock photography for a few different stock agencies.
A little information about me
I have a "day job," which keeps me pretty busy, so I have to do the whole photography thing in my spare time. When I was in my early 20's, I worked for a photography studio, which was owned by a very talented photographer. He let his kids do most of the studio work, while he and his wife traveled around to art shows and various locations to take photographs. I learned how to do custom framing and how to operate the photo processing/developing equipment in the shop. After working in the studio for a short time, I purchased a nice, used 35mm SLR camera, and began learning how to use it. The owner of the shop was nice enough to give me a few pointers, here and there, to help with my learning. I guess this is where I developed an interest in photography. My artistic interests, up to this point, were centered around painting and drawing, which I had done for most of my life. I saw my new camera as a great tool for taking pictures of landscapes and old barn scenes that I wanted to paint.
The Next Chapter
Shortly after this time, I joined the US Army and began a new chapter in my life. Both photography and art were left by the wayside. In the late 1990's, I was deployed to Hungary, in support of the Bosnia Peacekeeping Mission. I taught classes in the mornings, and had the afternoons all to myself, with absolutely nothing to do. I found a new 35mm SLR camera in the local Exchange, so I bought it and signed up to take an online photography course from the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP). For the next 6 months of my tour, I worked my way through most of the course. When I returned to Germany, after my tour was over, life got in the way again, so I did not complete the NYIP course.
A New Age
I have kept up with dabbling in photography through the years, and even upgraded to a nice Digital SLR camera, which, in my opinion, is much better than the old film cameras. In Hungary, I would have to wait almost a week to get my prints back, when I sent them off to be developed!
Fast-forward to the present.... I still like to take pictures, and I would like to make the photos that I take even better, so I have re-enrolled in the "new and improved" NYIP course, which is all done online now. This required starting all over again, but it has been a good refresher course up to this point.
Different Goals
Since I am not a "professional" photographer, my goals are a little different. I make photographs as a hobby, because I enjoy the hunt for a good image, sort of like one of my other hobbies, deer hunting, where the experience and the thrill of the chase is all that matters. Photography, like deer hunting and all of my other hobbies, is an expensive undertaking, so hopefully I will be able to sell a photograph every now and then to help offset some of the cost of entry.
In Closing
I am glad that you found your way to my website! Please visit my portfolio and browse through my work. There are comment boxes, where you can leave comments, if you like. Most of the images are for sale, allowing you to order custom prints directly from my portfolio. The only exception is for images that are currently with stock photo agencies that are exclusive. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through the Contact Page.
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