Sahuarita Library invites you to an exhibit by local photographer Jeff Smith, on display until October 31, 2026.
Artist Statement:
Jeff Smith was born in Georgia and moved to Arizona at the age of ten. Inspired by his father, he picked up his first camera at age five and has spent most of his life photographing the Arizona landscape.
Jeff earned an art degree from Pima Community College, where he studied under acclaimed Chicano-American photographer Louis Carlos Bernal. His fine art photography has been exhibited at the Tucson Museum of Art, Etherton Gallery, Canyon Ranch, JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa, and Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa. His work also appears in numerous public and private collections.
For more than thirty years, Jeff has pursued lightning across the Sonoran Desert, conservatively spending the equivalent of more than five years of his life there at night.
His lightning photography encompasses two categories. Iconic Landscapes capture the experience of being in the right place at the right time, catching a fleeting hue of light and the emotion of a storm. Drivescapes explore the way motion and light tell the story of nighttime travel. Variations in color, stitched light patterns, patchwork imagery, and splinters of time come together to create a visual travelogue of monsoon life.
“Riding with lightning, I feel incredibly focused. My peripheral vision widens to the view of the lens. While others sleep, I enjoy the sparseness of the roads and the emptiness. When people think of the desert, they often think about its brightness. When I think of our deserts, I think about the deep nights I have spent there, looking for light.”
Images courtesy of the artist
