BIOGRAPHY:
Don Matthew Smith was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Don Matthew spent his formative years in the charming New England town of Milford, where Mr. Smith’s first encounter with the physics of light came by accident. One day, as he was cleaning paint brushes in a darkened garage, light falling through a crack projected an image onto the wall turning the room into a giant camera obscura. By the age of twelve he was working as a freelance photographer for local newspapers, shooting social events and conflagrations. He received his undergraduate education at the Art Institute of Chicago. While at the institute he developed an interest in film and the archaic photographic techniques of the 19th century (some of which still haunt him today). Mr. Smith pursued these and other interests to the University of Arizona at Tucson. There he studied master prints and negatives in the collection of the Center for Creative Photography. Don took a position with the celebrated Colossal Pictures in San Francisco as camera operator and worked on staff for the next several years.  Since 1994 Smith has been lighting & shooting national spots for a wide range of clients and agencies.  This work has included extensive experience lighting for CG enhanced live action.

FEATURE CREDITS:
Haiku Tunnel/Independent/Josh Kornbluth & Jake Kornbluth/Sundance, Sony Classics
Bram Stoker’s Dracula/Columbia - American Zoetrope/Francis Ford Coppola
Visual Effects (Title & Prologue Sequence)/American Zoetrope/Francis Ford Coppola
Jack (Title Sequence) / American Zoetrope / Francis Ford Coppola

SELECTED COMMERCIAL DIRECTORS:
Jim Barton, Simon Blake, Scott Burns, Marc Chiat, Mark Dippe, Chris Hooper, Mo Husseini, Erich Joiner, Richard Kizu-Blair, Chris Koch, Mark Kohr, Rob Lopes, Patricia Murphy, Hans Nelleman, Rick Shulze, Randy Spears, Drew Takahashi, Mitch Teller, Ron Walters, Marty Weiss, Chel White, Steve "Spaz" Williams, Chris Yurkow...

SELECTED MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS:
Linda Perry/"Fill Me Up"/Jordon Winter/Interscope/Johns & Gorman
Primus/"Winona Big Brown Beaver"/Les Claypool/Interscope
The Muffs/ "Sad Tomorrow"/Mark Kohr/Warner Bros./Records
Shonen Knife/"Matty Side"/Commotion Pics.
Guided By Voices/"Hunting Knife"/Banks Tarver/Matador Records

RELATED EXPERIENCES:
Photographic collections: offset books and photographs have been shown and/or collected by the following institutions: The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Franklin Furnace Archive, New York.
The School of the Art Institute, Chicago. San Francisco Camera Work Gallery, San Francisco. The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.