On Wednesday, April 20, Mara and Ford Smith will present a program focusing on using your camera to capture events and scenes in nature. Members of the Tryon Garden Club will host this event, which is open to the public and will commence at 1 p.m. at the Polk County Library. The Smiths are authors and photographers and will share many of their best images as well as tips on “How to Stalk Nature with Your Camera.”

The Smiths have published their first novel, “Endangered,” two editions of “Winning Wines,” as well as a 100-page photobook, “Focus on the Foothills,” which was released in 2007. The Smiths also published a book for children, which attained the National Children’s Choice Award.

The Smiths are known for their photographic detail. The couple has been drawn to nature – landscapes, flowers, trees and animals – and they have amassed a wide collection of images from their 10 years of travel across North America. Nearly 500 of those photos can be viewed in the Serene Gallery portion of their website at www.livesimplywithstyle.com.

As technology changes the way they take pictures, it changes the ways the Smiths share them. They shoot with three digital cameras. With their computers, they employ negative and flat bed scanners. Printing with archival inks on archival papers, they are marketing what they call “affordable fine art photography.”

Both Mara and Ford Smith participated in America 24/7, the largest digital photography project in history. “North Carolina 24/7” included eighteen of their photos. In 2006–2007, Mara was one of three female photographers who recorded the daily lives and visual stories of Polk County.

Ford Smith holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. Mara Smith has an English degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Tx. She has taken a darkroom course at The Light Factory in Charlotte, N.C. and a landscape photography course at The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Ariz. Both have attended Kodak field courses in the national parks.

The Tryon Garden club welcomes all interested persons to attend this lecture. The Tryon Garden club is a 501 © (3) not-for-profit organization. Membership is open.

For further information, contact Lee Cudlip at 828-859-0309.