Gordon V. Smith
Image Collection

My interest in photography began around age 12, armed with a Kodak "Baby  Brownie". I became more serious about it as time and $  permitted. Years later I was able to purchase  the first of the many Leica cameras that were my companions as we worked through the transitions from film and darkroom to digital and software.

My business career involved considerable travel and I always had a camera with me as I learned about the places and people I was  visiting. Taking photographs made me more observant and “immersed”. When I began imaging my travels, I  would proudly show my wife the fruits of my labor. She would say, “that’s nice, but there’s never any people in your pictures”.  “Well no”, said I, “that’s why I get up at  dawn – so the images wouldn’t be mucked up by a lot of people milling around!”. 

I came to realize, of course, that it is the people who create the character and atmosphere of a place, not the  statues, monuments, parks and scenery. And in time I came to realize that  wherever one goes on the globe, we are more alike than we are different.

And so these images feature many folks from many places, doing what we do in our everyday lives.