–NATHAN SMITH
With an MFA in painting and a passion for humanitarian work in marginalized communities around the world over the past two decades, being a New York City wedding photographer was the last thing Nathan imagined himself doing. Having just returned to the States from a stint in West Africa 10 years ago, it was a chance reunion with a friend, fellow photographer Ira Lippke, that set this whole wedding photography journey in motion. What started initially as a strategic partnership with a friend to finance his passion projects, led to a gratifying career applying the same passion and empathy to the documentation of humans on the most present and connected day of their lives. While Nathan’s eye for light and composition is second nature, it’s his intuition for capturing the humanity and connection of any given moment that makes his work distinct.
For more than a decade, Nathan has had the great privilege of working alongside some of the world’s most talented planners and designers, photographing spectacular celebrations in iconic venues around the world. However, it’s never been the prestige or the publicity that has driven his work. It’s a consistent vision and passion for both creating and documenting human connection that bridges his various artistic projects.
Whether working from his New York studio or his residency and gallery in New Mexico, volunteering around the world or photographing your wedding, Nathan applies the same curiosity, empathy and professionalism to all he does.
A note from Nathan
We are all connected.
If I had to sum up everything that drives my curiosity as an artist, traveler and global citizen, it is the belief that underneath it all, we are more alike than different. Almost every chapter of my adult life has resonated with this lesson.
It was the lesson I learned as an undergraduate, traveling overseas on various humanitarian projects. It was the impetus that led me, subsequently, to co-found a creative studio in Barcelona for thinkers and artists from around the world and is the driving value behind my current creative project and art residency in New Mexico. It’s been my biggest takeaway volunteering with various NGOs, AIDS hospitals, orphanages and dozens of other community projects around the world over the past two decades. Beyond the social constructs of race, gender or socioeconomic status, there’s a quiet understanding in each of us that we are all part of the same human fabric.
Weddings, for me, have become a sacred space to observe and capture this truth with my camera. In the 12+ years I have been photographing weddings, across the full spectrum of socioeconomic, religious, and cultural contexts, the general narrative has been overwhelmingly the same. It is a story of love and hope.
Regardless of specific ritual forms, languages spoken, or faiths included or excluded, there is something miraculous that happens on a wedding day that transcends walls and egos, and gives humans permission to be more fully human. Despite wars fought or borders drawn, for at least that day, social and personal truces are called, and everyone surrenders to a spirit of hopefulness and generosity that is both visceral and intoxicating. We cry or laugh more easily, and are more present with ourselves and with each other at weddings than at almost any other ritual. The wedding day is, genuinely, a celebration of life.
My goal as a photographer is to capture this spirit. Much more than just composition and technique, the magic of a great photograph is in capturing the existential gap that is bridged in a gaze, a gesture or a touch. That is the challenge that weddings offer to me and what continues to inspire so much of what I do creatively and communally.
For all the stories I’ve already had the privilege to photograph and learn from, and for all those still to come, I’m beyond grateful…
