The Photographer
Security engineer by profession. Photographer by compulsion.
Neil Smith. Based in Lincoln, UK. Security architect and governance lead by profession — the full story is at neilsmith.work. Here, the subject is photography.
Started on a Canon EOS 350D, then made the switch to Nikon — D7000, then D70, a brief experiment with the Nikon 1 J1 (mirrorless before mirrorless was ready), and eventually the Z8. 45 megapixels of full frame that rewards the patience to find the right frame. Left-handed throughout, which changes how you hold a camera, how you configure it, and which shots feel natural.
The philosophy is simple: the frame is there before you look for it. The job is to slow down enough to see it. Most people walk past the shot that was there all along.
Wildlife, landscape, street, travel — filed here as companions, documentary, landscapes and wildlife. Black and white where the light earns it. Colour where the colour is the point.
Kayaking on the canals around Lincolnshire with a GoPro. Aerial with a DJI Air 2. Street with an iPhone 17 Pro Max when the Z8 would change the dynamic. The right tool for the right moment.
The same reason the security work is interesting — systems, patterns, the gap between how things are supposed to look and how they actually are. Photography is just a different kind of observation.