Walter Smith // Bio
I started out with my first camera when I was 14 years old. Discovering that I could talk to strangers with my camera was like finding my creative soul. While studying photography in Philadelphia, I often traveled to Asbury Park, New Jersey. It was there that I began exploring the very edges of the city and documenting the stories of the diverse people I met walking the streets.
Learning to tell their stories through my camera was everything. To this day, I use those same, simple conversational techniques when I’m creating work on set for brands. There is a lot of deep overlap between how I approach personal work and commercial work. My early photography experiences and process are the foundation of the way I still create work 25 years later. Because I believe that the way to tell a memorable story is to make it personal, I am always looking for what’s intimate in the moment — what will stand out.
Large or small brands, I approach both with the same passion for telling their stories and ideas. I’ve created images for Google, Microsoft, Brooks Running, IBM, Goldman Sachs, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and a wide range of Pharma brands including Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline. I just completed two monographs: Everywhere Is Everything and Life and Everything Else documenting the 2020 lockdown and getting lost in the landscape of upstate New York. Over the years, I’ve felt humbled that my work has been recognized by The Art Directors Club, The ADDY Awards, and The Society of Publication Designers.
I love shooting and telling stories. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t see a photograph that wants to be taken. I feel lucky to work for clients that allow me the space to find the truth in the brand story that needs to be told.
The secret to how I work is both simple and complex all at once. It’s both the camera and the conversation that makes a memorable image.