Robert Lewis Smith is an award-winning photographer who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Smith discovered the joy of photography as a young boy. Using a camera given to him by his parents, Smith recorded his family and to this day still cherishes the photos. Years later, one of those photographs would be exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It was a harbinger of work to come, but by age 10 Smith put down the camera.

It was not until after earning a Bachelors degree (History/Art History) from Williams College that Smith returned to photography. While teaching in Baltimore, Smith frequented museums and galleries in New York. It was there that he was captivated by the work of Bruce Davidson and Henri Cartier Bresson. Inspired, Smith taught himself photography and began photographing his third graders.

Returning to Milwaukee, Smith did community development work with the University of Wisconsin while earning a Masters degree in education. By now, however, the allure of photography was too strong for a part-time involvement. After studying photography at the Milwaukee Center for Photography, Smith worked as a commercial photographer and a part-time photography teacher. This was also the time of his first solo exhibit at Gallery 700 (Michael H. Lord Gallery), marking the gallery's first photography exhibition.

Now a valued professor of photography at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Smith continues to make expressive photographs. Current projects include: Mimi & Liam's world, a loose collaboration with his young children. The West of Ireland a lyrical landscape series and an artist in residence with the Ansel Adams gallery at Mono Lake, California.

Smith's work has been exhibited at: Benham Gallery (Seattle, WA), Elaine Erickson Gallery (Milwaukee, WI) , Houston Center for Photography, Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), the Haggerty Museum of Art (Milwaukee), Hood Museum (Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH), Meridian House (Washington, D.C.), The Michael H. Lord Gallery (Milwaukee, most recently '04), Milwaukee Art Museum and the Wustum, Museum of Fine Arts (Racine, Wisconsin)

His work is included in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum and in those of numerous private collectors.

He has been awarded a Wisconsin Arts Board, Individual Artist Fellowship Grant and his work has been published in: Family of Man Revisited, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Larry Fink, editor; In Spite of Everything, Yes, by Ralph Steiner, Art Muscle (Milwaukee), Shots Magazine and View Camera Magazine ('03, '04), and Entelechy International, A Journal of Contemporary Ideas. His work has appeared on the websites of Afterimage Gallery, PleasEzine (an Italian site), View Camera Magazine, Esthet, a Tokyo photography site, and Yourwall.

Website: www.RobertLewisSmith.com