This native of Edinburgh, Scotland, got his first camera at the age of eight, a box Brownie. After graduation, Ian Smith (c. 1921-c. 1987) was teaching languages and history for a couple of years when he decided to take courses in photography. In 1944 he worked as a still photographer for the classic British film A Canterbury Tale, and that same year he joined the LIFE lab in London as an assistant. By the following year he was on staff.
—Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers
Architecture of an English castle. (Photo by Ian Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
People sitting in the sand at Blackpool beach. (Photo by Ian Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
