Noel Smith - Artist and Photographer

Artist and photographer Noel Smith ventures into the wild as often as possible.

Noel Smith

A regular visitor to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe looking for wildlife inspiration for his photography and painting. Regular sightings have been recorded of Noel sitting and sketching or with camera in hand in eager anticipation of approaching wildlife!

Self-taught wildlife artist Noel Smith was born in Durban, South Africa. Painting has always been a passion and one which has continued to grow. As a keen birder his early works as a young boy were paintings in Gauche of birds but it was only in his late teens that he discovered his talent as a broader wildlife artist using oils. Throughout his work Noel’s focus for his paintings has been to highlight the plight of the wildlife within Hwange National Park where he spent many school holidays and further afield to the wider Zimbabwe wilderness.

He is a regular exhibitor in the Annual Wildlands Conservation Trust fundraising exhibition (a non-governmental organisation (NGO) who strive to improve the quality of life for many South Africans). Today Noel’s driving force is his passion for conservation and wildlife and in addition to his paintings he has a growing reputation as an outstanding wildlife photographer having recently been selected for Africa Geographic photographer of the year.

Examples of Noel’s work can be seen in our Facebook album –