Blue Mesa, Arizona

Maker Smith, Michael A. American, b. 1942 Philadelphia, PA

Date1978

MediumGelatin silver print

Dimensionspaper: 7 1/2 in x 19 5/8 in

Credit LineGift of Jeanne L. and Richard S. Press

Object number1994:99

About the ArtistWorking with a view camera, Michael A. Smith shifted with ease between photographing isolated as well as densely populated landscapes. Like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston before him, Smith was passionately committed to the tradition of straight photography; specifically, the transition of an item found in the real world into the aestheticized subject of a photograph. In the interest of maintaining the greatest fidelity possible to his negatives, Smith never enlarged his images, preferring to make contact prints (by laying his 8x10 inch negative directly on top of the light-sensitive paper during exposure). Smith traveled the country to find his subjects, presenting both the rural and the urban realms in refined, well-ordered visual relationships that blend complex spatial relationships with abstract concerns. New Orleans offers a typical city activity–the ball game–from the surprisingly rich vantage point of standing behind the crowded bleachers, a view that illustrates Smith’s interest in the graphic, modernist photographic tradition.

Michael A. Smith was born in Philadelphia in 1942. After earning a BS in pre-law from Temple University (1963), Smith taught himself photography. Since the 1960s he worked as a freelance photographer and instructor of photography, receiving a variety of awards for his work. Smith also received numerous commissions to photograph US cities, including New Orleans, Louisiana; Princeton, New Jersey; Toledo, Ohio; and Broward County, Florida. His work has been exhibited in one-person shows at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Florida; International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe; and the Photography Center of Atlanta, Georgia.