Recent Work & Past Projects

The work presented here is a combination of short personal projects or in some cases, a set of images shot for a client that required the development of an unusual or fun theme. Check back here often as I will update this frequently. All images on this website are copyrighted © Gary Smith.

Circa 1865

This safe, circa 1865-1870, is located inside the Piney-Creek Chop House in Bastrop, TX. This is an excellent example of when art and engineering meet; the safe is beautiful. Constructed of a patented Crystalized Iron, it is the only metal which cannot be drilled by thieves. This was a particularly challenging photograph to make because, despite the wheels, the safe weighs a few thousand pounds and isn't going to be moved. This piece of history sits just inside the front door at the Chop House and there is only about 3 feet between the front of the safe and the facing wall. There was no way to photograph the entire safe in one image and in fact I shot this as a series of plates which were then merged into one image. The camera used was a Cambo Actus-G View Camera Body with a Nikon D850 body and a Mamiya 50mm medium format lens. The rise / fall and shift capability of the Actus body was the key in pulling off this shot. The image is made up of 12 plates and was shot with one light. For lighting I used a Broncolor Move pack and the Broncolor 120x180cm softbox camera right. The safe is quite large at close to 6ft in height so the large 6 ft. softbox worked perfectly to evenly light the safe. The shot-to-shot color accuracy of the Broncolor light was also very important when stitching together so many images to make up the forground. The middle photo shows a framed print hanging in the bar area at the Chop House.

Lifestyle in Austin

These images are from a recent client shoot for Alvies Boots in Austin, TX. These lifestyle images were created to showcase the new Rio Grande Snowpocalypse women's boots.

New Mexico and Back

These images were taken last month as part of a workshop with veteran National Geographic photographer Sam Abell. Santa Fe Workshops has been hosting photographic workshops for many years but this was the first in-person class since the COVID lockdown. "The Next Step" was also the second workshop I have attended at SFW, the first was with another veteran of National Geographic Magazine, Joe McNally, "A Face in a Place".

We had two shooting days and three days of review and discussion. Sam presented many images from his career to teach the process of building an image. Watching Sam deconstruct images and listening to his critique was a very enlightening experience. One of the great benefits to taking any workshop is being able to devote a week entirely to photography without the distractions of our everyday lives. We were given a basic assignment to go forth and make photographs. There were no models and no specific scenes. Each photographer was turned loose to find and make images. As a group we traveled to Albuquerque and to Taos for our photographic locations. Both were very different cultural experiences but personally, I got more out of Taos photographically.

Industrial / Construction

The Concept

These images are part of a personal project to shoot an excavator that belongs to a buddy of mine. The concept I came up with was to create some images showing technology being used, hence the laptop and two-way radio and also to show the other side of coin, being low-tech. There aren't many things more low-tech than a wrench except for maybe a hammer. I already had the radio and laptop but I needed a wrench, preferably a really big one! I made quick call to another friend who's a rancher and said, "I need about a two-foot-long open-end / box-end wrench". It never ceases to amaze me what this rancher has squirreled away - of course he had the perfect tool for the job. I pulled in the gate and he promptly produced the biggest wrench I've ever seen. Another quick stop at Home Depot to pick up a hard-hat and safety vest and all my props were ready. I felt like the subject called for a pretty edgy look, none of this light and airy stuff.

These images were shot with three strobe packs from Elinchrom, two ELB 400's and one ELB 500. I also used a 5ft and a 3ft Rotalux with no diffusion and the 3rd pack had a standard ELB 400 reflector with the diffuser. All the lights were pretty hard and specular which is exactly the edgy look I wanted. Mostly the excavator was lit with the Rotaluxes and the worker was lit with the standard head reflector. In several cases, I used the octas feathered in such a way as to light the machine and provide a little rim light to the worker.

PHI Med 14

These images were shot as part of a personal project to give a little back to a life flight team in Bastrop, Texas for all the lives they save and their contribution to the community. The company operates hundreds of helicopters across the US and we're very fortunate to have such a great group of men and women on the front line in helping people with life-threatening injuries and illness who need emergency evacuation to a hospital. Thank you!

Car Trouble

These images were shot as part of a workshop live competition to come up with a concept and shoot it. I think I had about two hours to develop the idea, execute the shoot, select, edit, and sequence the images and present the work. This is not as easy as it might sound but while trying to come up with an idea - any idea, I remembered someone in the workshop said their car had broken down that morning. It all came together pretty quickly after that. I knew I had jumper cables and work gloves in my truck, we just had to pick the wardrobe and we were off to the parking lot for some serious car trouble. Truck was blue, how about a blue blouse and a cowboy hat, some jeans, the work gloves and red cables.

The concept and images won the competition and image #3 was selected as the best of the best among those presented by everyone. There seven images required but these three illustrate the concept pretty well overall.