The Pastel Glow series evolved while Lee Smith was vacationing on Florida’s Gulf Coast. "As I walked the beaches and neighborhoods, I was taken by the gradation of blue that was created when the water and sky merged. And, how the sun turned the sand into a hot white carpet and bleached the architecture into an array of pastel tones. And, how people walking on the beach took on a soft glow.

It began to remind me of that moment when one steps outdoors from a darkened space and is hit full force with bright sunlight. In that moment, as one’s eyes race to compensate, there is a micro-second, when the world takes on a washed out, over exposed glow.

With that micro-second moment in mind, and against the rich Florida color palette, I set out to see if I could capture the feel of this moment in a series of photographs. The Pastel Glow series is a work in progress. Conceptually the goal is to capture images – people, architecture and landscape – in that beautiful elusive microsecond of brightly exposed suspended reality."