I am offering a limited opportunity for my friends and supporters to purchase numbered artist proofs for immediate delivery from a selected portfolio of images from my first trip to North Dakota.

Details, images and ordering information are here.

Latest News 08/12/2010 :North Dakota Images: Special Print Offer First, I want to express my sincere thanks to those who made pledges to my fundraising effort on Kickstarter.com. It was gratifying that there were people with enough regard for my photography and who had enough confidence in my ability to complete the project that they were willing to back the project with a pledge [...] - More 07/19/2010 :21st Century Hieroglyphics Monograph I just completed self publishing a small monograph of my images of the graffiti at the Quincy Quarry in Quincy, Massachusetts. The book contains all of the images from my September, 2009 ’21st Century Hieroglyphics’ exhibit at the Contemporary School for the Arts and Gallery in Hagerstown plus more images that have never been exhibited [...] - More 06/24/2010 :Kickstarting My North Dakota Project I am excited to announce that my “Forgotten Places: North Dakota” project has been accepted by Kickstarter.com to be listed on their web site for funding. For those of you who haven’t heard of Kickstarter, here is how they describe themselves in their Frequently Asked Questions on their website: Kickstarter is a new way to [...] - More 06/23/2010 :Washington Street Gallery Reception Saturday This coming Saturday, June 26, I will be at the new Washington Street Gallery to help celebrate the gallery’s grand opening. I will be there for a reception from 5-8pm. The gallery, which opened its doors at the beginning of May is located at 235 West Washington Street in Charles Town, WV. Come to say [...] - More 06/21/2010 :North Dakota First Cut I’ve been working on my images from North Dakota and I’ve posted my “first cut” selection in my SmugMug gallery. I don’t know where this project is headed, but I am seriously considering a return trip – maybe more than one. This is because I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of the [...] - More Sterling Images - Fine Art Photography by Rip Smith on Facebook Sign up for my Email Newsletter:

About Me

Like the ancient world composed of the essential elements of earth, air, fire, and water, a photograph depicts a subject with the essential elements of light, shadow, form, and texture. My images seek to capture that essence of the subject: the way it reflects light, it’s form and texture, and how it is modified by light and shadow.

I have been doing photography for something over 40 years, starting with a folding camera and black & white roll film. Over time I dabbled with various formats but mostly I worked in 35mm. I enjoyed the versatility of the 35mm SLR and took on the challenge of making high quality images from this small format.

In the 1960s I worked in a small photo studio where I spent many hours in the darkroom making black and white prints. Then I moved from still photography to television and video. I have now come full circle, returning to photography as art after a 30-year career in visual communication.

Several years ago I embraced the digital world. I now shoot with a Nikon digital camera and my darkroom is a computer, Adobe Photoshop and an archival inkjet printer. The image quality and creative control that you can get with the “digital darkroom” is just astounding.

With the great progress in the development of digital tools for photography over the last few years, the debate is pretty well settled as to whether digitally captured and processed images are valid art forms.

To me, photography is about the image, and the photographer’s vision. All of the technical tools, whether film-based or digitally-based, are are nothing more or less than tools for translating the photographer’s vision into a medium that can enjoyed by others.

Thank you for looking at my work. I hope you find something here you like.

Rip Smith

Email: sterlingimageswv (at) gmail (dot) com

Snail Mail: Sterling Images, PO Box 969, Martinsburg, WV 25402