Photographing the Wonders of the Sea

Phil Smith ’10, staff photographer at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Md., spent most of his undergraduate years playing clarinet in the Auburn University Marching Band and earning a French degree.

“As you can see, I’m putting it to good use,” he joked.

Smith didn’t want to march during his last year of college, but he wanted to continue being involved with AUMB. That’s why he asked Corey Spurlin (the longtime marching band director) if he could stay on as a photographer. Spurlin agreed, and what started as a side hobby became a passion.

“The coolest thing I’d ever photographed was the National Championship that we won in 2010,” he said. “I actually got to go with the band to Glendale and I got to see Cam Newton do his thing.”

After his graduation, Smith worked for the Auburn University marketing team and experimented with wedding photography. Then, the pandemic hit at the same time that his wife got a job in the D.C. area.

“I saw a job posting for the National Aquarium and I was like, how boring can that be? It turns out, not boring at all.”

Smith spends his days photographing sea turtles, seals, stingrays, sharks and other aquatic species. He’s documented rehabbed sea lions and turtles being released back into the wild, which he says is “a wonderful thing” to see. The best part of his job, though, actually involves human beings.

“My favorite thing to do is to take a mental health day at the aquarium where I take my badge off,” he said. “You know, anything that identifies me as a staff member. And I just watch people moving through the aquarium. I watch them truly experience the wonder of these animals.”

Even though he jokes about the limited day-to-day application of his French degree (“I speak to my cat in French, and he doesn’t say a whole bunch back”), Smith believes his time at Auburn is invaluable to his current career. In fact, he still carries a copy of the Auburn Creed in his wallet as a reminder of the values that first shaped him as a student and continue to guide him today.

“Work, hard work,” he said. “That’s something that was ingrained within me at Auburn that I carry around with me all the time.”

By Corey Ann Williams ’17