All Photos © 2023 Alan Goldsmith
During my early days in photography, I was drawn to the play of natural light, strong graphics, and the opportunity to document real life as it unfolded before me. As my professional career took off, I began to specialize in editorial assignments for large corporations, national and regional magazines, and academia. The work afforded me a fair degree of creative freedom but the need for off-camera strobes, client approval, and idealized images of reality, destroyed much of my initial enthusiasm. At a certain point, I stopped taking personal pictures and never picked up a camera unless I was getting paid to do so.
In 2012, several years into semi-retirement, advances in digital photography helped me to reconnect with my early love of the medium. Once again, I began taking pictures for myself. All but a few images on this site date from that year to the present: a number of portraits in Humanistan come from earlier commercial assignments, while some personal photos, made prior to 2012, are also included.
I’m afraid that anyone expecting to read some academic-sounding treatise about my work here will be disappointed. If anything, I'm more about play — reimagining the mundane, tinkering with ambiguity and abstraction, on high alert for whimsy, and always, an easy mark for light.
Current imagery that takes a more painterly, expressionistic approach is shown in "New Work City," and in posts on my photo blog, Pixetera, dating from last year.
Inquiries regarding usage, prints, and editorial assignments may be made using the email address or phone numbers listed on my contact page.
Again, my thanks for visiting.