Greetings!  My name is Diana M. Smith.  I am a mom to two girls and two boys. My eldest daughter is a graduate of Drexel University with a BS in Graphics Design. I am not sure who inspired who down the graphics design path, but she continues to inspire me every day! My eldest son is a college student in cyber security, attending UCCS and a special program out of UC Boulder! I also have a high school son who is exploring all the time! He is at his best when he tinkers and creates. Perhaps he is a future engineer? I can’t believe my youngest daughter is a teenager and almost out of middle school! I haven’t met another person who can solve puzzles like she can! (Well, her brothers are pretty awesome with the Rubik’s cube!) She is also an incredibly talented artist, much like her older sister. She is going to need these skills if she is going to pursue her dream of becoming an architect. I’ve barely scratched the surface when bragging about my children. But hopefully you can see that I am an immensely proud momma. My husband is a retired Air Force officer, a physicist, and a mathematician. He is passionate about space, D&D, and Eve Echoes! I enjoy listening to him talk about his passions, especially about physics and space. I have learned a lot about quarks, photons, neutron stars, supernovas, and nebulas, and so much more!  We have had some very interesting conversations! I am always learning something! 

I graduated from Wright State University with a BS in Management Information Systems in 1997. If you had asked me 25 years ago what I would be doing with my life, photography would not be on the list. I have always loved being a creative. My design interests started with an incredibly old off-the-shelf design software so that I could create birthday invitations and gifts for my kids’ birthdays. When this software couldn’t do all that I wanted it to do, I eventually invested in Photoshop. This was a huge learning curve, and at times I felt defeated. But I kept going and several years later, I feel energized and ready to learn more! Like I said before, I am always learning! I have also learned to create amazing rosaries, stain glass pieces and silversmith. I think I have always had a creative eye. I remember enjoying taking pictures with a Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera and trying to hold down the cube flash onto the camera when it felt like it wanted to pop off. At least I think it was a Kodak! But, as a daughter of an enlisted military member, developing film was a luxury. You didn’t take a picture just for the heck of it. There had to be purpose. So, goofing off was not in the cards. Through the years I was gifted one camera or another. But it wasn’t until after I was a married stay-at-home mom, and we bought our first DSLR that I really started to play! 

I took pictures of my kids, like pretty much every mom with a camera, before cell phone cameras! But I also loved trying to take pictures of animals at the zoo and make it look like I took the picture in their natural habitat. I still love doing this! That was always a challenge I enthusiastically took on. Though my family wasn’t so crazy about me lagging behind with the camera. When we moved to Colorado, I joined my son’s elementary school PTA. Here is where I really started to grow as a designer and photographer! As most schools struggle to get volunteers, our school was no different. Somehow, I decided to join the very small yearbook team. My participation and contribution grew and grew. By the time my youngest was in second grade, I was running the production of the yearbook, design, photography, and all. I absolutely loved going into the school and becoming a fly on the wall, capturing the everyday lives of these kids. My photography grew, beginning with lifestyle, reportage, and portrait styles. This was the moment I decided to become a professional photographer! I decided that when my tenure as the yearbook “nearly everything” ended, that I was going to pursue professional photography. Thinking about this was really scary. Part of me wanted to stay in the comfort zone. But now, three years later, I am here. I’m still learning and growing, and I am on the odyssey I want to be on, with all its challenges along the way. 

Capturing life as it happens gives a unique perspective on the world around us.  Seizing these special moments in lifestyle, portraiture, and other styles of photography, leaves you with snapshots of moments in time that become heirlooms and art! I want to help you leave your legacy!