About Leland Smith

Attachment-1.jpeg

After years of shooting high profile television commercials, I traded truckloads of movie making equipment for a pocket sized camera and an iPhone.  

With unencumbered simplicity and instinctual framing, my images encompass a wide range subject matter – landscape, architecture, still life, abstract. I shoot with no thematic forethought but let my images trigger collections based on light, color, composition and style.

I strive to capture the image of the present and the “mistake” of the moment and am continually amazed how often “disassociated” images suddenly blend together to create unexpected “ad hoc” series.  

My work has been shaped by the masters of advertising still photography, and the cinematic style of the classic film cinematographers I have had the good fortune of working with. 

Recently I have been experimenting with tonal texturing and the dimensional impact it adds to nature’s natural color palette

My photography, like my life, is a nod to the curiosity of what tomorrow’s light will bring. 

Thank you for your interest. Connect with me on Instagram to see some of my latest work, or reach out directly if you are interested in a particular image.

 

Selected Exhibitions

2026

  • Upcoming: The Housatonic Museum of Art – Echoes of Hope:  The Ellis Island Immigration Hospital - Museum Exhibit

  • Upcoming:  The Provincetown Art Society – Tonalism Selections

  • RFOTOFOLIO Honoree 2026 Selections – Through Awakening Eyes:  The Ellis Island Immigration Hospital

  • Your Daily Photograph – Selection from Leaf & Petal

2025

  • The Danforth Museum – Jurors Select - Uniform Closet from the Ellis Island Project

    The Provincetown Art Society – Selected Cape Cod Landscapes

    International iPhone Photography Awards  (IPPA) – Honorable Mentions – Architecture and Still Life

    Your Daily Photograph – Morning Chair from the Ellis Island Project

2023 - 2024

  • SE Center for Photographic Art – Selection from Summertime 

  • Lens Magazine – Featured Spread – Sun Baked from Pale Horizons

  • New York Center for Photographic Art – Honorable Mentions – Color

  • Your Daily Photograph – A selection from Abstract Architecture

  • The Carriage Barn Art Center, New Canaan, CT - Selections from Etchings and Tuscan Collections

  • Your Daily Photograph – Selected as part of the Hot 100 Photographers

  • A. Smith Gallery – Selected for Inclusion – The Book of 27, a fine art coffee table book.

  • Gibson Island Maryland Art Exhibit – Selections from Leaf & Petal

  • LensCulture – Editor’s Select – Black & White - People

  • A. Smith – Honorable Mention - steamy window - from Landscape

2021 - 2022

  • LensWork Magazine – Featured Spread – An Italian Trilogy

  • Praxis Gallery – Director’s Award - 32 Stories Down:  The Shape of Things

  • Siena Creative Awards – Short List Finalist – Architecture  

  • Gallery ph21 Monochrome Exhibit – The Sea Captains House

  • Black Box Gallery – Selected work Architecture

  • Minimalist Photographic Awards – Honorable Mentions – Still Life and Architecture

  • Lensculture – Editor’s Select – father of the bride - Portraits

  • Chania International Photo Festival – A selection from Architecture

  • Griffin Museum of Photography - Member Juried Open – A selection from Leaf & Petal

  • LensWork Magazine – Featured Spread – An Italian Trilogy

Publications

  • Museé Magazine, Street Sweeper Magazine, Fine Eye Magazine, Tagree and Shots Black and White Photography Magazine