Greg Smith

Some 50 years back, a kindergarten teacher introduced Greg to show and tell. He shared his Tonka dump truck and became a storyteller.

He grew into a photographer, writer, editor and producer. With his wife, Janet, Greg has brought all his years and roles to imediaSmith in Colorado’s High Country, following 27 years beside a tidal river in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.

At his core, Greg is a photojournalist and editor, who:

• Photographs people doing what they do, from intimate interactions to huge events, action, even posed portraits. He’s particularly adept at finding visual order in chaotic, dynamic situations.
• Focuses on storytelling moments and sequences.
• Strives for precise visual and verbal language and technique, from attention to style and grammar to understanding the latest technologies.

Greg has worked as: a news, portrait, sports, corporate, commercial and fine-art photographer; a newspaper and magazine editor; a news, public relations, advertising and technical writer; a nonprofit administrator; a cookbook co-author; a book editor and publisher; an account executive; a producer; a location scout; a teacher and lecturer; and a kayak tour guide. From 2013 to 2015, he was a university communications strategist, using all these skills to help Western State Colorado University tell its story and lift enrollment by double digits.

For more than a dozen years, Greg paddled a tidal salt marsh twice a week, feeding bugs and photographing a unique coastal ecosystem. The marsh animals taught him patience, grace and mindfulness as he gathered pictures, video and audio for his master’s-degree project, “Keeping the May River Wild.” It earned Best of ASMP and Southern Lens awards, screening at five film festivals and on SCETV.

He continues to photograph the outdoors on bike rides, hikes, paddles, ski trips, long drives and right out his back door. He brings lessons and reflexes from the wild back to documenting people, their habits and their hopes.

Greg has advocated for photographers’ and journalists’ rights, taught others, organized events and helped keep volunteer organizations running. He received NPPA’s Joseph Costa Award and a Leadership Award from the International Photographic Council of the United Nations. He wrote NPPA’s Cost of Doing Business Calculator and edited several key initiatives, websites and amicus briefs. He’s served on the boards of directors for both ASMP Colorado and ASMP South Carolina. And he’s filled leadership roles with local planning, homeowners, recreation, education, water management, arts and conservation groups. In 2021, he received the Alice Glenn Proctor Award for his work helping the San Isabel Land Protection Trust.

Greg holds Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Master of Arts in Visual Communication degrees from Ohio University, where he also worked in university communications. He has attended dozens of business, creative and technical seminars and workshops, organizing and presenting at several. He exhibits occasionally in local galleries.

He has helped design and launch several new publications, and helped write and illustrate the popular Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way, UNC Press, 2003. In 2022, he and Janet launched May River Mountain Press with Altitude Adjustment: A Book of ‘Chairlift’ Pictures.

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