Allison V. Smith

For Allison V. Smith, photography is not just a profession—it is a lifelong passion that began when her mother gave her a camera at age fifteen. She describes the experience of making a great photograph as an almost meditative moment—a silence that settles in, paired with an instinctive feeling that she has captured something truly special, something she can hardly believe is unfolding before her eyes.

After graduating from Southern Methodist University (SMU), Smith worked at seven newspapers before dedicating herself fully to freelance and fine art photography. Her photographs have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic. Her work is also part of the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Smith is represented by the Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas, the Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston, and the OnCenter Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Blending the sensibilities of fine art and photojournalism, she approaches each photograph with both aesthetic intention and documentary insight. “I try to bring my fine arts background into my photojournalism,” she says, “and my photojournalism background into my fine arts. I love making the work, thinking about the work, and sharing the work.”