Ken Smith

For Ken Smith, photography has always been less about the camera and more about the act of seeing.

Long before he ever called himself a fine art photographer, Ken spent a career as Senior Vice President and engineer for an Energy Company and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. His work took him across the world, and wherever he went, a camera followed. Slides from overseas adventures filled boxes and binders, quiet records of places, people, and moments that caught his eye.

About ten years ago, Ken decided it was time to slow down and focus fully on the craft that had always been waiting in the background. True to his engineering roots, he began by learning how cameras work, taking classes that explored the technical side of photography. But what kept pulling him forward was something less mechanical and more instinctive, the desire to create images that felt alive.

Ken’s photography centers on nature, including birds, flora, and fauna, often at macro and micro levels that reveal details many people pass by every day. He believes in creating a photograph, not just taking one. Each image begins as a vision in his mind, shaped through the camera and refined in postproduction to match what he first imagined. For Ken, a successful photograph should have soul and spark emotion in the viewer.

He often returns to a quote that guides both his life and his work:

“It is not what you look at that matters, but what you see.” Henry David Thoreau

Ken splits his time between Galveston, where he spends his winters, and the rugged coast of Maine in the summer, two landscapes that continually inspire his work. His photography reflects a deep respect for the natural world and a quiet invitation to notice its beauty.

He is a member of the Texas Photographic Society, Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council, Houston Audubon Society, Maine Audubon Society, and the National Audubon Society. Two years ago, he launched kesmithphotography.com to share his work more broadly and celebrate the creativity found in nature’s smallest and most fleeting moments.

Ken is honored to also be the featured artist with the Galveston Art League this March and hopes his work encourages others to pause, look closer, and truly see.