Lu Smith (b. 1983, Heidelberg, Germany) is a photographer living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. He questions and explores the subtle, overlooked nuances throughout the black diaspora. His work not only documents the situational beauty, but its visual prose and social intelligence; using black is-ness as a primary thesis to compose his images. His work and approach adopt a photo essayist’s vernacular when solitary images do not fully articulate societal discoveries and his subsequent curiosities.

When not working a scene, Smith’s conceptual projects index a quiet regality in the studio, where themes of mystery, magic, and intellect garner his eye’s attention.

It’s between these intersections one can find Smith and his camera. A purist at heart, he develops his black & white negatives (he occasionally processes color, as well) to produce silver gelatin prints in his studio & darkroom.