On this date, July 24, 2007 my friend Mark Gregg was killed by the Cops in the LA area

I met Mark at age 15 at the beach here in San Diego in 1997. I photographed him into his 20's. He went to college in San Francisco and was getting noticed in a few films. While the cast of Pacific Eddy were going to various festivals...later that summer Mark was gone. He had a sleeping disorder that his family was aware of and compensated for his entire life. Friends close to him also new how to deal with it as well. The Cops were not dispatched that night...they just appeared. When they saw Mark, they shot and killed him from 50 feet away. His body was at the morgue for a week. When Mark's Dad picked up the phone he had a heart attack after they told him to pick up his son's body. Mark is survived to this date by his Sister, Mom and his own daughter.

When I walk on the beach and see the pebbles with water rushing over them, I think of Mark. You are in our hearts and minds forever.

Terry Smith

Dusten in a grocery basket

This is one of many photos I took of Dusten. I met him in Poway, California walking down the sidewalk without a shirt. He had a tattoo between his shoulder blades that caught my eye. He's a heterosexual guy, lot of fun and we created some pretty fantastic images over the years. This is the first roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 we shot. ~T

Bray's tribute canvas

Here is Alexander Bray Baxter's tribute canvas I've been working on for several months. What an intense experience, working on this deeply personal art piece. It's one of many unique elements in the exhibit which I'm currently working on for a one or two day Event which will be filmed for my documentary, titled: America's Finest Kids  ~Terry

Stay Gold

I'm here at Ocean Beach in San Diego, CA. Just met a couple of really cool local surfers; Stokes and Stone. Stone's got a tatt of one of my favorite movies of all time. It was filmed in my hometown; The Outsiders.
Stay Gold...Stone, Stay Gold... ~Terry

Met a really cool long haired Kid in Hillcrest at the bookstore...

Tonight I went to see the movie, The Way Way Back. It was showing at the Landmark Theater in Hillcrest/San Diego. As I was leaving the bar near bye, I saw something that looked like my card case on the sidewalk. I picked it up and it had someone's ID and a few credit cards. I started to call the person's AAA number to try to contact the owner...then I looked up and there was the guy. I walked up and said, "is this yours"...he said, where'd you find it? He shook my hand and thanked me for finding and returning it to him. I had about a little time before the movie started so I went in and looked at some clothes in Urban Outfitter...looked at a few of Banksy's books as well. Then walked towards Buffalo Exchange. Then, this beautiful long haired boy jogged bye me. We both had to stop and wait for the light to change so we could cross the street. He then went into a bookstore. I thought, am I really going to do this?. Back in the day I used to give out my business cards all the time. So, I thought awhile...approached him with my card. He was very kind and seemed somewhat interested. One never knows what kind of response will happen. What was refreshing is that he was in an actual bookstore looking at books...not on the computer. I'd love to hear from him, have no idea if he will call or email. We'll see... ~Terry