Andre Smith Joins Chesapeake Focus: From the Marshes to the Flight Line

I’m announcing that photographer Andre Smith has joined Chesapeake Focus as our third featured artist. His complete debut collection is now available at chesapeakefocus.com: all 28 prints, 8 from his Chesapeake wildlife portfolio and 20 from his aviation work, released together for the first time.

Who Andre Smith Is

Andre is a United States Marine Corps veteran who works the marshes, rivers, and skies of Southern Maryland. His eye was trained on motion first — the burst of a flag-football play, athletes reading a moment before it happens. After his service he turned that same attention to the Chesapeake, where the Patuxent and Potomac gave him a slower rhythm to study.

His wildlife work moves across subjects without losing its through-line: waterfowl lifting off a marsh at first light, eagles holding a ridge above the tidal reach, white-tailed deer at the timber’s edge in late autumn, and quiet landscapes of the rivers that surround Southern Maryland. His photography of the watershed has been recognized in regional publications, including the Cedar Point Federal Credit Union Calendar.

The Wildlife Prints

Eight of Andre’s Chesapeake photographs make up the wildlife series — his first work brought to archival print. Two of them, The Sovereign and Working Water, are numbered Limited Editions of 50. The rest are Open Editions in accessible sizes for everyday walls. Subjects include:

• Bald eagles
• Waterfowl and marsh drakes
• White-tailed deer
• River and shoreline landscapes

The Aviation Collection

The larger half of Andre’s debut is aviation: twenty pieces from the 2026 airshow season, shot along the flight line with the same patience he brings to a treeline. Anticipation and timing do the work, and the best frames read more like portraits than action shots. The roster includes the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds, and vintage warbirds. Four of the aviation pieces are numbered Limited Editions of 50: Falling Diamond, Colors Aloft, Low Pass, and Through the Light. The other sixteen are Open Editions. You can see all twenty at chesapeakefocus.com/collections/aviation.

Every Chesapeake Focus print is archival quality. Each numbered Limited Edition ships with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity and is produced in a run of 50; when a run closes, it doesn’t reopen.

Why This Fits

Chesapeake Focus launched to build a collective: multiple artists, multiple subjects, a growing archive of Bay life. Andre extends that in two directions at once — the wildlife of the watershed he has spent years observing, and the aviation that shares its Southern Maryland sky. His attention to the Bay runs deeper than a single trip out with a camera, and that is exactly what this collective is meant to hold.

You can read Andre’s full background at his artist profile on Chesapeake Focus, and explore his complete catalog at chesapeakefocus.com/collections/artist-andre-smith.

— Ryan Lott, Founder, Chesapeake Focus

All photographs © Andre Smith. All rights reserved.