Michael Smith-Heimer, PhD

 

Michael Smith-Heimer started to take photographs during his first year of college, when he was studying city planning.  His professor said "Go see the world and figure out how cities work, through the lens of a camera."  Michael did, and soon discovered Ansel Adams and the zone system.  He perfected his black and white film technique over the next several years, while traveling throughout the western US.  Several of his images received juried awards and were published. 

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When personal computers emerged, Michael became an early adopter; he even was a technical reviewer for early issues of PC World.  But his passion for photography and the digital world did not converge for many years.  He continued to use film, gradually moving into Cibachrome color images.

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As digital cameras and printers improved, Michael began to experiment with digital images.  Along the way, he found that combining images into a seamless panorama could open up the landscape, showing "slices of life" in an expansive format. 

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He has come full circle, from city life to a home in the Sonoma wine country. Michael, now retired from his career as a city planner and professor, has returned to his first love - making images of the landscape.