Dave W Smith is a naturalist, adventurer, photographer and storyteller, based in Manchester U.K. born with a distinctive passion for the natural world and a desire to showcase our place within its beauty.
Dave’s award-winning work covers a variety of subjects; from on-land and underwater wildlife to outdoor sports and recreation, mountain landscapes to shore-line sunsets and everything in-between. Over recent years his focus has turned towards worldwide expedition coverage and adventure photography, capturing promotional content for travel and photography magazines, outdoor pursuit businesses and renowned sporting companies such as Montane and Aquapac. Now, as the world is slowly coming to terms with the acceptance of climate change and the demise of our natural world, he strives to commit more of his work towards wildlife and environmental research and conservation efforts.
His drive for exploring the great outdoors began as young child exposed to the elements of the north-west of the U.K, where growing up he was brought along caving, climbing and wild-camping trips with his family at the tender age of five. While the metropolis of Manchester held the birthplace of Dave it was clear his developing passion for the outdoor life would soon take him from the rural hills of England to the mountain tops of the Himalayas and beyond.
His journey into photography began along the coastline of Turkey at the age of fifteen where the admiration of a sunset image taken on his mother’s digital camera sparked a fire inside him. Realising the value a single photograph could hold, he began to save for his first DSLR camera and set about focus on travel and underwater photography already being a qualified scuba diver by the age of twelve, with a desire to explore the world and share its wonders. Inspired by modern day adventurers and storytellers, he proactively took any and all opportunities to travel with his camera and soon the passion for image capture took hold.
After years of camera experience travelling and living around southern Europe and Southeast Asia finding his niche, he soon sought out other means of action in the form of extreme sport photography which has taken him around the world providing content for expedition leaders and adventure travel guides.
Over the years Dave progressed his unique skillset and grew from his past experiences allowing him to develop a keen eye for photography and a comprehensive understanding of the outdoor sector and the natural world around him. This first-hand experience, along with several years working within outdoor commercial environments evolved his knowledge of outdoor products to enable him to accurately test, photograph and develop products in the field. All of which only continued to strengthen his ability and comfortability to shoot in extreme and often remote areas of the world capturing both sports and wildlife.
“When attempting to capture a scene, whether that’s a landscape, wildlife, or someone high-tailing it down some rapids whilst I’m in amongst the action, I am always striving to capture something special with an end result which portrays both the action and emotion I’m feeling whilst taking the shot. When it comes to documenting and storytelling, I believe our connection and respect for nature is vital, it’s something that should be valued above all else and recorded for those who may not be able to experience it in our future.”
