Gordon Smith Fine Art Photography

Your Bio

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Gordon Smith is a landscape photographer based in St. George, Utah. Southwestern images are the crux of his portfolio, although these are balanced by images from around the world, including coastal California, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. His images are captured using digital Canon cameras and the best photograpic tools.

Featured Galleries

Photo of the Month : To keep the artistic juices flowing, I have created this gallery of my "best of the best" photographs (or the ones I like the most). Each month I have taken the challenge to keep shooting, getting out to a new location or visiting a familiar one another time. This motivates me to shoot year round. These are the photos that I hang on my wall at home or work. These show mother nature at her best.

Photo of the Month

Big Sur, Redwoods & Highway 1 : Big Sur in October is supposed to be ideal. I got a half-and-half deal during my week, with fog and endless rain for half the week and sunshine at the end of the week (making it hard to leave). The cloudy weather worked well for hiking and shots of the redwoods. One the 36-hour storm began, I didn't get a single picture. Everything was in dense fog and soaking. Eventually things improved and I had a great time overall.

I tried to visit the classic locations (Hurricane Point, McWay Falls, Pfeiffer Beach) but also visit some others that are less known. These include the Old Coast Road, Soboranes Point, Garrapata State Park, Millcreek Canyon, Pacific Bluffs and Esalen. These shots go in roughly chronologic order. Please enjoy.

Big Sur, Redwoods & Highway 1

Yellowstone : One of my favorite places on earth. I have had the incredible good fortune to visit Yellowstone every summer for nearly 20 years. My father built a cabin near the Madison River and I love fishing the river and photographing the mountains around southern Montana. Yellowstone is less than an hour's drive. Despite visiting so many times, there are many places I still haven't seen. It's truly an experience that can take a lifetime. Some of the most colorful natural places on the earth are located in Yellowstone National Park. Capturing that accurately has been such a delight.

My favorite place in the whole park is Grand Prismatic Spring because of its' unworldly gorgeous colors! I can't get enough of it. Like my Zion's gallery, I've placed my more recent shots at the beginning of this gallery, but please peruse and enjoy this incredible wonder.

Black and White : Black and White represents a recent interest of mine. I now see how removing distracting color can strengthen a photograph by forcing the viewer to see only the shapes and composition. This can be a very powerful tool. This gallery has unrelated photo subjects that may only have their black and white processing in common.

With this gallery, I am also a part of the great SmugMug Black and White Community which you may enjoy visiting.

Black and White

Most Popular Photos

Golden Fields & Blue Mountains
October 2008
Taken in Montana, Madison River Valley, just after a storm.

Day 28: Lonely Traveler: This is perhaps my favorite shot from this magical location. This rock has a long and lonely trail and the textures of the Playa are on full display here.

Fire in the Sky
October 2009
Another day in southwest Montana and another gorgeous sunrise to share. This little cabin is a favorite of mine and I photograph it whenever I visit Big Sky Country. That is an outhouse on the left. This is about as rustic as it gets in the 21st century.

The Ultimate Jump Shot

Zabriski Point and Manly Beacon in Soft Light
July 2009
This panorama is from 2 shots stitched together. Altogether, it's a mile from Manly Beacon on the left to the trailhead on the far right. The size of the badlands is really hard to comprehend without walking the trails. You should see this in Original Size to appreciate how amazing this place is.
This panorama is from 2 shots stitched together. Altogether, it's a mile from Manly Beacon on the left to the trailhead on the far right. The size of the badlands is really hard to comprehend without walking the trails.

You really need to see this in ORIGINAL SIZE to appreciate it fully.

Day 12: Head in the Clouds

Day 30: Dawn in Montana. This rustic cabin caught my attention.

Day 26: Aspens dancing.

Day 16: Desert flowers in bloom, from Zion National Park.

Green River Reflections of Gold
January 2009
This was taken from the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park at sunrise.

Day 6: Brown Pool in the Subway Canyon of Zion National Park.

Day 44: Yellow-bellied Marmots from Yellowstone National Park. These 2 were part of a larger family of at least 5 marmots that we saw here. I was hiking with only my wide-angle lens, but I ran back to the car to get my 300 mm after we found this cute bunch!

Another shot from the Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. This wolf slept the whole time I watched him except for this gargantuan yawn. Luckily, I was watching and ready to shoot.

Day 19: The Next to Fall. This is another shot from my recent and highly memorable trip to the Grand Canyon's North Rim. This rock looked poised to tumble any moment.

Mother Nature's Grafitti
August 2008
My favorite shot from Yellow Rock.

The Wave

Day 36: Big Clouds can fit in Big Sky country. This enormous cloud just hung right over this small lonely tree. The rest of the sky was clear.

Day 11: Near Miss in Death Valley. These two rocks appear to have been headed for a collision, but have managed to just miss one another in their random movements along "la playa" in northern Death Valley.

Subway Snow
April 2009
This picture was a 2nd place winner in the Zion Staircase Gallery competition, 2009.

Applying for a permit for the Subway hike can be a dangerous and uncertain experience. I applied for a permit for the middle of April, expecting the weather to be mild but pleasant. A freak late-spring storm brought snow and chilling winds instead. Although the hiking had cooler weather, the snow and higher water level made the waterfalls profoundly beautiful in a way that I've not ever seen before in pictures.

The Wave

Walk in the Woods
December 2009
On a walk in the Big Sur woods, I went looking for waterfalls and found a couple. The trail itself was also delightful and I hoped to capture that here.

Day 34: Flyfishing on the Madison River. I shot this fisherman from a distance with my 300mm lens. It really compressed the landscape well and brought the river, hill and distant mountains all into a close relationship.

Another shot from our engagement session. I liked the yellow shoes.

Day 33: Another shot of this beloved rustic cabin. This was a few minutes after the previous shot and the direct sunlight his the cabin. It was a great sight to behold.

Granite and Gold

Sunflower Arrangement. I've been shooting more with a large softbox and this subject was one that I liked. It's a learning experience. Please enjoy.

DAY 14: I was at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon last weekend. This is my favorite shot from there: Woton's Throne is the most spectacular thing that I have seen in the Grand Canyon. It is enormous, extremely rugged, uplifted high above the canyon floor. This picture was taken before sunrise. It was so dark that taking this picture took about 60 seconds. That is why the clouds have blurred because they were moving.

Grand Prismatic Steamer (Spring). I tried to include some foreground elements here to give this a sense of location.

Way Out of Line
January 2010
My first macro/abstract shot to be featured in this gallery.

Snow begins to come to red rock country at unpredictable times. This shot is from the Subway in Zion National Park during a surprise snowstorm.

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