Meet Tom Smith of Images by Tom Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Smith.

Tom, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
At age 30, I was offered a job by an old army buddy in the San Diego area and moved here from Iowa after a brief stay in Kansas City. Several years after arriving here, I reacquainted myself with photography after a long absence. I had picked a time, the late 90’s when the transition to digital was taking place. Big changes. No more sending film into labs and waiting a week to see if anything came out good. And, even though the new digital cameras were expensive, you were able to see instantly what you did right and just as important, what you did wrong. I learned to love the new format.

Until that time, I had only shown my pictures casually to friends. Then one day I took one that I seriously was proud of and had it matted and framed at a local shop. When I went to pick it up the framer told me, I needed to show it in a gallery. I didn’t even know what he was talking about but learned. The next month, I entered it in the Coal Gallery in Carlsbad. It won first place and sold that week. I was hooked, and have enjoyed it ever since. I’ve had a long relationship with the Coal Gallery since that first showing and am now, an assistant director there.

Has it been a smooth road?
There have been very few bumps in the road, but nothing major. When it’s really more of a hobby than a business, the problems are all pretty minor. Now, that I’m retired, I get to spend as much or as little time with photography as I choose, but I will always love it. Being involved with a gallery, I get to spend a great deal of time viewing other’s projects and talking to them, I really enjoy that. There is so much to learn from others.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Images by Tom Smith story. Tell us more about the business.
I’m actually new to setting up a company, and it’s very much still a work in progress. I do a variety of subjects, but mostly all from the San Diego County area. I preview nearly all of my photos on Facebook under Pixel Potpourri and am starting to use imagesbytomsmith.com too. Some tweaks still need to be made on the website, but it’s still open to see the photos.

Much of my time is spent helping other photographers that are new to the hobby/business find venues for their work and offering encouragement and support to them. I find this very fun and rewarding. Several have gone on to win awards and being published. I hope some of my coachings, in some small way, has helped them get there.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Photography has had and will continue to have so many changes. In the last 20 years, we’ve seen the digital revolution re-invent the genre. Everybody now has a digital device whether it be a $5000 camera, or your cell phone or even a drone. New ways and devices will be developed and they will evolve too. Better optics, sensors, and software will up the game maybe in ways we can’t imagine now.

Contact Info:

• Website: imagesbytomsmith.com
• Phone: 760.518.7219
• Email: tom@imagesbytomsmith.com
• Facebook: Pixel Potpourri

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