The Smith Family: A blog about the photographer behind Kitchen Art’s portraits.

People and places. My kids, my wife, my parents and friends. Old houses, new faces. Great food and wine. Travel and adventure.

A glimpse of a life captured in the photographs of Robert Smith – a family man who likes to take pictures of family things, old houses, food and wine, and anything that inspires him.

Taken from the blog The Smith Family by Robert Smith (kitchenart.com) at www.smithfamily.wordpress.com/

The Smith Family is a blog about the photographer behind Kitchen Art

Hi! I’m Stephen Smith, the photographer behind Kitchen Art. I like to make portraits of families and kids in their natural surroundings. I have an art background, but I like to keep things simple and let the subjects be themselves. My goal is to capture what makes people unique, and show it proudly on something they’ll actually want to hang on a wall.

To achieve that, I talk with each client beforehand to find out what’s important to them. After all, these pictures will be a part of your home for a long time. Then I show up with my camera and we have fun!

I started this business in 2012 as a way to create images that were more personal than anything you’d find on the “wal mart wall.” And I’ve been photographing ever since.

Most of my clients are here in Cedar Rapids, but there’s no location too small or too far away for me. If you’re in my area, reach out! If not, we can work something out!

Thanks for visiting Kitchen Art!

Kitchen Art Photography is a professional photography service specializing in portrait photography. Featuring the fine art portraiture of Robert Smith and his family, Kitchen Art draws upon the years of experience and award-winning skills that are found in each image.

The portraits are created using traditional photo techniques combined with digital technology to create fine art prints. Ample lighting, posing, and time are used to create a final product that will be treasured for generations.

Snuggle up to your favorite loved one, or just kick back and enjoy some wonderful photos at Kitchen Art Photography.

The blog is all about Smith’s portraits, which are beautiful and very different from the standard family photos you’ll find in your local Walgreens. Smith worked with a stylist, and her pictures feature unique backdrops and props that reflect each family’s personality. The blog, which she started in 2007, also includes a “portrait of the day” as well as a “what’s going on in my kitchen” post about her family life.

The blog has been so successful that Smith was able to quit her job as an art teacher and focus on photography full-time. She offers prints and calendars for sale, and will even take custom portraits of your kids. I sent her some questions to learn more about her business.

Kitchen Art is a great name for a photography business. The phrase evokes the warmth and creativity of home cooking — one of my favorite things to photograph, actually — and it’s also a bit of a pun, because “kitchen” art is often art that’s made in the kitchen.

It’s a good thing I like photographing kitchens, because I’ve been working on this blog for almost two years now, and I still haven’t photographed any actual cooking.

I’ve photographed restaurants and cafes, of course, and I’ve photographed many kinds of foods — some raw, some cooked; some you’d expect to find in a kitchen, some not. But I haven’t yet photographed food being prepared or consumed by actual human beings in an actual home setting.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t tasted it. Over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to sample quite a lot of food as part of my research for this blog. As part of my drive to create more content (and to make myself feel better about all the food porn I’ve been eating lately), I’m going to tell you about it here.

Whenever I take pictures of children or babies, the parents always want a copy of the picture to print out and frame. The only problem is that most pictures from a digital camera come out too small to have printed at a typical photo retail store. Many times, parents ask if I can do anything about it and after a little thought, I decided to post this blog for everyone to use.

This blog will be updated periodically with different templates you can use on your home computer to print larger copies of your favorite photos you’ve taken. All you need is Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements software which most people already have installed on their home computer.

The first set of templates are for 4X6 prints that are the perfect size for standard photo frames that you can buy at most any big-box store.** If you have any questions about using these templates, please leave a comment below or send me an email and I’ll help you out as best as I can**.*