ROB SMITH

Birds in Focus: A Journey into Avian Fine-Art Photography

10 August 17:45 for 18:00 – Plettenberg Bay Country Club

Rob will present a curated selection of his avian imagery captured the past 26 years. The presentation will feature fifty high-resolution images, highlighting the delicate interplay of light on the birds he photographs and the environments in which they live. He will underpin this with his thoughts on creating fine-art bird imagery, specifically of those birds found in Plettenberg Bay.

Rather than a continuous display, this will be an interactive discussion. Rob will guide the audience through his portfolio, the planning he puts into taking a series of photos, technical considerations related to composition and lighting, and the sustained vigil required to capture birds in the most beautiful and engaging way possible. There will be ample opportunity for questions regarding camera technique, fieldcraft, and digital workflow throughout the evening.

About our speaker

From the banks of the Kafue River in Northern Rhodesia in the 1960s to the rugged beauty of Plettenberg Bay today, Rob’s photographic interest has been formed by nature. Growing up on a farm with his brother, he explored the African bush, absorbing its sights, sounds, and scents – experiences that began a lifelong passion for capturing the natural world.

That same spirit of exploration has shaped his photographic eye. Whether capturing an evening’s light on the Robberg Peninsula, the poise of a Martial Eagle in the Kruger National Park or taking in the stillness of a Knysna indigenous forest, Rob’s images reveal both the beauty and the intimacy of the natural world.

Rob’s work has been widely celebrated, with publications such as The Wall Street Journal, African Birdlife, Getaway, GO, The Times of Plett, and SOUTH featuring his images. African Birdlife recently named his photograph of mating Half-collared Kingfishers as one of the best published by the magazine over the past two years. His fine-art images hang in homes in South Africa and across the world, collected by those who share his reverence for Africa’s natural world.