Rodney Smith: A Master Maker

I believe you can break photographers down to two categories, “the makers” and “the takers”.  I would put Rodney Smith into the former; he’s a maker.

This isn’t a value judgment, only an observation, but wait, there’s more.

If you’re a maker, you tend to relate to your work as a device through which you communicate with your audience.  If you’re a taker, you may communicate through your images but the predominating muse comes in the form of emotions drawn out of the viewer.  Photojournalists and documentarians are takers.

That’s not to say Mr. Smith’s work is emotion free.  The opposite is true, yet the emotions drawn out of the viewer are more closely connected to the artist rather than the subject.  Rodney Smith wants you to feel something but prefers you share his vision through those emotions.

Takers, on the other hand, deliver your feelings to yourself though their imaging.  Each is powerful when elevated to the mastery that Mr. Smith has shown throughout his career.

He reveals this through statements on his website:

“In order to say something outward, something universal, you must first look inward.”
“To say a photographer has a vision is to say the photographer has something unique to say to about the world.”
“Therapy, and the resulting introspection, allowed me to become sensitive to the parts of me that were hidden, or repressed, or unavailable to me consciously”

There’s more great insights into the work of Rodney Smith on the website featuring his new book, “The End.”