About Brian Smyer

A person holding a stack of photographs with two vintage cameras on a wooden table, one camera is a Leica and the other a Nikon.

I've made over a million photographs.

I'm still learning to see.

The photographs that matter most to me are prints of people I love. I can hold them. Pass them across a table. That's why I do this work the way I do it. Real portraits, printed, on walls and in albums, where a family can live with them.

I've worn out cameras. Not collected, worn out. Over a million frames, and every one taught me something about light or timing or people.

Brian Smyer crouches in tall golden grass with his camera lowered, listening to a young boy during a family session.

A modern approach

Most of what makes a portrait has nothing to do with the camera, though. Kung fu taught me stillness. How to breathe, hold steady, and wait. Poker taught me to read people. I know the difference between a posed smile and a real one, and I can feel the moment right before someone relaxes. Years of listening to families taught me the most useful thing I know. People open up when they actually feel heard.

Brian Smyer, owner and photographer at Smyer Image, holding his camera in a Utah field with the mountains behind him.

That's what your session is. Not me directing your family into stiff rows. Me paying attention until the real thing shows up, and being ready when it does.

I photograph families across the Greater Salt Lake Valley. If you want portraits of who your family actually is, let’s talk. Fifteen minutes, no pressure.

Let's talk