Meet Cynthia Smalley | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cynthia Smalley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cynthia, where are you from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I grew up in the rural Nevada desert, with artistic influences on my Mom’s side and thrill seeking influences on my Dad’s side. We had lots of reptiles and animals, cats, dogs, a pony and a pet Red Tailed Hawk, to name a few. I have love of wide open spaces, wild lands and weather and a huge reverence for all animals from my environment in my early upbringing and it still is very much who I am today.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My photography encompasses a broad spectrum~ I don’t think its as much whom or what I shoot but how I see the subject I am working with, photographing… I see the most beautiful aspects, moments, and potentials, I shoot more viscerally, aware of the individuality of who is in front of me and the co creation of the images happens from that connection. When I started shooting, I had been in front of the camera my whole life, traveled Europe and Japan as a model, and had been studying Method Acting for several years. The headshots that my fellow actors were giving to their agents, seemed to be lacking the creative rich depth that they were able to infuse their work with in class- So I stated shooting with everyone I studied with, using the Strasberg Method based techniques during the headshot photo sessions and the results were fantastic! The actors themselves were able to represent their true abilities as creative talent and it was well received – the agents loved them. Booking ratios went up. It was a success. Within 6 months I was shooting full time and have never looked back!
My work has expanded to include Celebrities, Political Dignitaries, Magazine covers and editorial fashion layouts. Destination weddings, are a big part of my business, and I love photographing the environment of possibility, of hope and of LOVE!

Since 2003, I have been photographing America’s wild Mustangs who have been roaming free and thriving on our public lands in the Western United States for over 500 years. As an advocate for keeping these horses wild and free on the lands set aside for them in the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971” , I have fine art shows in California, Nevada, and Texas to share their magnificent presence in and importance to America and raise awareness of their dwindling numbers due to massive round ups and slaughter.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start out with a coffee from “The Oaks” on Bronson at Franklin and then walk up into Bronson Park, hang a right to visit “The Bat Caves” where the early BatMan movies were made in the 60s, then hike up into the Hollywood Hills. Its a gorgeous view all the way to the ocean on a clear day, and filled with flora and fauna and wildlife, of course its an awesome place for the canine experience as well! El Tepeyac Restaurant on Evergreen Avenue In Boyle Heights Mom and Pop is an authentic Mexican food flavor rush extraordinaire! The Chile Rellenos are probably the best in the entire world… they have take out too.
Melrose Avenue is a must for the quirky, the unusual, the groovy one of a kind finds, and on Sunday there’s a Flea Market on Melrose and Fairfax that has everything LA cool Point Dume Beach has had more movies made there that I can even remember and its a neat place to see for the recognition and because there’s very often dolphins swimming close to shore and surfing in the waves there. It’s especially nice on New Year’s Day, when most of the regular visitors stay home busing their hangovers! If you spend the day there, definitely stop by Geoffrey’s Malibu for a cocktail or dinner. The view, the fabulous food, the quintessential feel of Malibu dining, Ahhhhhh.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Mom was and still is a compulsive documentarian.She taught me the Art of Seeing, the magnificence of light and how brilliant Mother Nature is at creating it, and swathing our world in endless ways with it. She would exclaim with inspiration, “the light”! as she excitedly put my brother and I in a scene where it was illuminating perfectly upon our little intent faces. My love of beauty in its vast expressions and in the all the little glorious micro details were instilled by her and her Mom, my maternal Grandmother, who was the encapsulation of love and beauty herself. In my early years, Mark Monroe, a dear friend and mentor, had a way of encouraging my early work that I believe is responsible for the support and confidence to take what I was seeing and feeling into the world as “Art”. The twig was definitely artistically bent and the tree did grow …. I am so grateful for the unwavering belief I received in my early years.

Website: www.smalleyphoto.com www.wildhorsesandwesternart.com

Instagram: @smalley_photo @cynthiasmalleyweddings

Image Credits
Mitchell Cox