About Don Smith

I am a full time professional landscape and sports photographer living in the southern Bay Area of California. For the past 28 years, I have had the pleasure of making my living documenting the feats of some of the world's greatest athletes. I've covered 4 of the 5 major professional sports here in America: Baseball, Hockey, Basketball and Football.

Landscape photography, although always endearing to me, was simply an escape from my day-to-day assignments. About seven years ago, I visited Galen Rowell's Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop, California and was so taken by the beauty of his images that I decided to pursue my own visionary quest of documenting the light and land around me.

Basically my images are more about light and color than any specific subject matter. Magical light presents itself twice a day: dawn and dusk, sunrise and sunset. This is when I want to be out with my camera. The moments are fleeting and I am simply reacting to the subtleties that nature offers. I believe my sports background has adequately molded my thought process to respond quickly to the changes around me. The challenge lies in making the most of the moment; it comes and goes in an extremely short period of time! The game is to juxtapose light and landform in a meaningful way - a sort of connect-the-dots process.

My work is represented solely by the Getty Photo Agency allowing my images to be viewed and sold worldwide. Please visit my website http://www.donsmithphotography.com when you get an opportunity.

Photography Equipment

CAMERAS: Canon 1DMKII, Canon 1DMKIII, Canon 1DsMKIII

LENSES: (all Canon typeL lenses) 14mm - fisheye, 16-35mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, 24-70mm f2.8, 100mm f2.8 macro, 70-200mm f2.8, 100-400mm f4.5/5.6, 300mm f2.8, 400mm f2.8, 1.4x converter, 2x converter, EF25 extension tube

ACCESSORIES: (2) 550EX flashes, Canon ST-E2 Speedlight Transmitter, (2) Pocket Wizard multi max transceivers, Gitzo carbon fiber monopod, Gitzo 1325 carbon fiber tripod, Kirk B3 ballhead, Gitzo 1530 Mountaineer tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-40 ballhead, Westcott and Litedisc reflectors and diffusion panels

STUDIO LIGHTS: (6) Elinchrome 500ws mono lights, (2) White Lightning 1200ws mono lights (4) Speedotron 2400ws packs (4) Speedotron quad-heads, stands, softboxes, umbrellas, snoots, grids, gels