BODHI SMITH & IMPRESSIONIST PHOTOGRAPHY:

Bodhi Smith is an award winning fine-art landscape photographer, a digital photography instructor for both high school and private lessons, an international tour guide, an inspirational speaker, and a writer/poet (under the name of Bodhi). He is a native of Southern California and both teaches and makes his home in Fallbrook, CA which is only a few miles from where he took his first breaths after entering this world in Oceanside, CA.

Until 2011, Bodhi was an avid and successful backcountry skier/splitboarder with weekly adventures into the North American Alpine wildernesses. Since 2011, he has taken that kind of professional skill, passion, knowledge of weather, and obsessions of natural beauty and has translated it into building an impressive body of photographic artwork that is enjoyed by thousands of viewers on a daily basis.

Utilizing both his routines of thorough planning and pre-visualization, Bodhi creates vivid photographic compositions that are impressions and expressions of his own feelings, emotions, and experiences. He specializes in night time photography and ultra-long exposures that often appear surreal or dreamlike but still maintain an anchor of grounding in reality.

Although he travels the world and has recently photographed Tahiti, Bora Bora, Easter Island, New Zealand, Iceland, Mexico, Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Japan, Bodhi is especially noted for his bold and colorful scenes of the iconic American Southwest, luminescent nightscapes under the Milky Way, vibrant trees that seemingly come to life, and his mystical seascapes of the Pacific Ocean coastline.

Bodhi's photography is permanently on display in his "Private Gallery Collection" in Fallbrook, CA and at Lorimar Winery and Vineyards located in the heart of Temecula Wine Country. Plus, periodically some of his works are displayed at the Laguna Art-A-Fair in the city of Laguna Beach CA, the San Diego Museum of Natural History, and at the Fallbrook Art Gallery. His images are also permanently on display across Southern California in numerous galleries, private collections, wineries, businesses, hospitals, government offices, and hotels. 

Bodhi also is an acclaimed author and has eight published books of his photographic impressions that are mixed with his writings and quotes to his credit (with book #8 coming out soon in the Spring of 2022), all of which are on sale on Amazon.com as well as through this website.

Bodhi has won several awards for his photography, most recently winning the coveted Best of Show Award for his "Take the Time" thematic piece in the 2021 Fallbrook Artist Guild Show...he's the first photographer to win the Best of Show Award at this annual multi-discipline showcase of artwork at the Fallbrook Art Gallery. And also notably the Best in Show Award for his "Impressions in the Mist" piece in the 2016 "Best of Nature" International Exhibit of Photography at the San Diego Museum of Natural History. He has won several blue ribbons and best in class awards at various art festivals, fairs, and arts and craft shows. His work is also sponsored by and featured on websites, products, and promotional materials by Dolica Tripods, ProgreyUSA, Lorimar Winery, Mutt Lynch Winery, Bana Bandanas, Deux Amis Winery, the San Diego County Fair, Nelson Photography, and Metalography Metal Prints

Being a teacher and a student of his craft, Bodhi wishes for people not to follow him, but to journey beside him. He is always approachable and absolutely selfless with his photography. He is always open and helpful with everyone he knows and meets. He willingly shares his techniques, experience, knowledge insights, and camera settings. In doing so, Bodhi realistically hopes to inspire others to enrich their own lives by picking up a camera. Through the lens of a camera, people will become more deeply skilled at enriching their own personal life experiences.