Seattle photographer Al Smith began taking photographs as a hobby as a teenager and continued documenting his experiences, both abroad and at home, throughout his life. Best known for his photos of Seattle's Jackson Street area jazz clubs and musicians, Smith also photographed family, friends, and local people in their everyday lives.

After World War II, Al Smith was invited to join the Kohga Photographic Society. Camera clubs like the Kohga brought together amateur and professional photographers. Members shared techniques and critiques while competing against other clubs. Al was the only non–Japanese American member of the Kohga club.

This photo shows members of the Kohga club stopping at a roadside attraction on the way to take photographs at Mount Baker. Four photographers pose in front of a giant red cedar drive-through stump in Snohomish County. The boy in the middle is probably Al's son, Butch.

Text of sign on tree: Relic of a Vanquished Forest / Western Red Cedar / (Thuja Plicata Don) /Age 1250 years / Preserved at Request of Snohomish Co. Pioneers /A.D. Arlington, Washington 1922.