About Me

Welcome to my website Through A Lens Clearly.

I’m Phil Smith and I am a hobbyist photographer living in Surrey in the South East of England, UK.

I first became interested in photography as a teenager long before the digital age and used my Olympus OM-10 SLR camera to take photographs on film or slides.  I was an early adopter to digital camera technology, starting initially with a Nikon digital compact camera and then progressing to Nikon digital SLRs as the technology matured and became more affordable to amateur photographers.

In 2025 I traded in my Nikon SLR full frame camera together with various Nikon lenses and purchased the much smaller and lighter Nikon Z5ii full frame mirrorless camera with a 24-200 lens which is perfect for travel photography. I am now enjoying not having to carry around a heavy camera and a bag full of lenses anymore and the Z5ii is a joy to use.

I manage and process my images primarily in Adobe Lightroom but also make use of Adobe Photoshop and Skylum Aurora HDR where necessary.

My main interest is in landscape and travel photography but I like to experiment and challenge myself with other types of photography such as still life and macro.

I take photos purely for pleasure and the challenge of capturing the best image I can.  I’m not trying run a business or make money out of it.  I worked for Royal Dutch Shell for 37 years and was in the very fortunate position to be able to take early retirement at the end of 2016 which has given me more time to spend on my hobby.

I’m also a long-time passionate fan of Crystal Palace Football Club and season ticket holder at Selhurst Park in South East London.

I hope you enjoy looking through my photo galleries and if you would like to say hello or send me any feedback or comments then just click on the button below.

Thanks for stopping by and looking.

Phil