Biography

Clinton Smith has been involved in the full-time pursuit of excellence in fine art photography since 1971, when he opened Light Impressions Gallery - at the time, the only gallery in Southern California dedicated to the exhibition of photographs. He studied gallery and management and photography at El Camino College.

In 1975, Clinton moved to the Monterey Peninsula to work for the California State Park Service at Point Lobos. It was there that he first began to photograph the landscape. While there, he worked as an assistant to Wynn Bullock and Morley Baer, and met and was befriended by Ansel Adams.

Ansel admired and encouraged Clinton's early color work, which he began in 1978. Clinton's work in the carbon pigment process began in 1984 and led to an exhibition at the George Eastman House in 1990.

Articles regarding Clinton and his work have been published by virtually every photographic magazine in America, and several in Europe. He has been the subject of feature segments on NBC's Today Show and Sunday Today Show, as well as numerous regional television shows. Collectors include a Who's Who list of Fortune 500 companies, several museums and numerous private collections.

Clinton has taught photography workshops for the Friends of Photography in Carmel, California; the Maine Photo Workshops in Rockport, Maine; the Appalachian Photo Workshops in Asheville, North Carolina; Parsons/New School in New York City; numerous non-profit organizations, as well as many private workshops in a variety of locations across America.

Clinton resides in Mendocino and invites and welcomes you to visit his gallery/studio. Clinton personally makes all of his cibachrome prints by hand and supervises the production of pigment transfer prints at facilities located in Sacramento, California.

Twelve galleries or art consultants in the United States, Europe and Japan represent Clinton's work. Galleries or art consultants in California include the Alinder Gallery in Gualala, the Ansel Adams Galleries in Yosemite and Pebble Beach, The Weston Gallery in Carmel, and the Susan Spiritous Gallery in Costa Mesa.

Reviews & Comments on the work of Mendocino's internationally acclaimed landscape photographer
• Clinton Smith •

"Magnificent interpretations."
- The New York Times

"A truly gifted artist with the camera."
- Yousuf Karsh, Photographer

"The most emotional color landscape photographs that I have ever seen."
- Paul Caponigro, Photographer

"Amazing is the word for Clinton Smith's color landscape photographs."
- The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY

"There is a powerfully classic yet spiritual feeling transmitted through these works."
- Asheville Citizen Times, NC

"What sets Smith apart and makes him one of this country's finest landscape
photographers is his finely tuned sense of design and color...on a par with Edward Weston."
- Orange Coast Magazine

"...magistral works - huge, cool, meticulously printed and fresh.
An authority of color sensibility I've not seen before."
- Lou Stoumen, Academy Award-Winning Filmmaker

Home   •    Portfolio   •    Pricing and Info   •    Biography

Clinton Smith Gallery
333 Kasten Street P.O. Box 1761
Mendocino, California 95460
(707) 937-2261 E-Mail: cmsphoto@mcn.org