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Meet Photographer Joe Smith - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Mike McNamee Published 01/04/2010

Karmena Agius worked as a nanny at a colonel's house. But the house was bombed and she spent many hours buried under the debris before being rescued. Lawrence Scicluna was the first Maltese person to be employed as cabin crew by British European Airways, now British Airways (opposite, top).

There are stories of pilots and teachers, a broadcaster, a navy cook and a canon. Scores of townspeople - all with a valuable contribution to offer. All captured in incisive and compelling style by Joe.

Throughout his life J. P. Smith has been obsessed by photography, art and graphic media.

'Art was one of my favourite lessons at schools,' he recalls. 'And back in 1980 I had a one-man exhibition in Malta of my semi-abstract and impressionistic landscape paintings. But photography has always been in my subconscious as a pure outlet for expressing myself.' He bought his first camera - a Nikon FM - back in 1979 in Canada and he never looked back. 'I love the theatre so it was a natural progression for me to start shooting performing arts. I love jazz too...and I became the official photographer for the famous Malta International Jazz Festival. I look at jazz and link it to what photographers often need to be able to do in their profession...improvise.'

Joe joined the Malta Photographic Society but admits he is mostly selftaught. 'I've learnt through exploration, experimentation and by reading books,' he confesses.

'The key thing is to get out there with your camera. But you can't train the eye to perform aesthetically without also thinking about the technical aspects of the shot. When I lecture I tell my students that in a way the danger of photography is its immediacy - the idea that you can just press a button, and that's it. Of course if you are a composer you have time to add or delete notes but, as a photographer, to train your eye and arrive at a point where composition comes naturally, there is just no alternative but to go out and shoot. Reading books or listening to another photographer speak just isn't enough.'

Joe shot film exclusively until four years ago.

He reveals: 'There was a time when I was really convinced I would never accept the digital environment. I used to be a darkroom man and I loved having control over the processing element. It was all about discipline. When shooting with film you had the security of a back-up but digitally you are in cyberspace. Sometimes with high technology things go wrong and occasionally it's not even enough when you've backed up two or three times.'

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1st Published 01/04/2010
last update 09/12/2022 14:56:38

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