Nathan Smith
With an MFA in painting and a passion for humanitarian work in marginalized communities around the world over the past two decades, being a New York City wedding photographer was the last thing Nathan imagined himself doing. Having just returned to the States from a stint in West Africa 10 years ago, it was a chance reunion with a friend, fellow photographer Ira Lippke, that set this whole wedding photography journey in motion. What started initially as a strategic partnership with a friend to finance his passion projects, led to a gratifying career applying the same passion and empathy to the documentation of humans on the most present and connected day of their lives. While Nathan’s eye for light and composition is second nature, it’s his intuition for capturing the humanity and connection of any given moment that makes his work distinct.
ARTIST STATMENT
We are all connected.
If I had to sum up everything that drives my curiosity as an artist, traveler and global citizen, it is the belief that underneath it all, we are more alike than different. Almost every chapter of my adult life has resonated with this lesson.
It was the lesson I learned as an undergraduate, traveling overseas on various humanitarian projects. It was the impetus that led me, subsequently, to co-found a creative studio in Barcelona for thinkers and artists from around the world and is the driving value behind my current creative project and art residency in New Mexico. It’s been my biggest takeaway volunteering with various NGOs, AIDS hospitals, orphanages and dozens of other community projects around the world over the past two decades. Beyond the social constructs of race, gender or socioeconomic status, there’s a quiet understanding in each of us that we are all part of the same human fabric.