Big Open Publishing
Purveyor of Fine Art Photography Books
A Boutique Fine Art Publishing House
Big Open Publishing L.L.C. is an independent publisher dedicated to thoughtfully conceived
and beautifully produced books of fine art and documentary photography.
We believe the photographic book is more than a container for images. At its best, it is an art object, a visual narrative and a lasting record of a particular place and time.
We create our books with close attention to the details, photography, editing, sequencing, typography, printing and the physical experience of turning the page.THESE UNITED STATES
Conceived as both a fine art photography book and a contemporary historical document, These United States brings the photographs together through a carefully considered visual sequence.
Rather than organizing America into geographic or ideological categories, the book allows photographs from different regions and communities to encounter one another across the page. Gesture, color, form, humor and human experience create connections from one image to the next.
The result is less an inventory of America than a visual journey through it.
First Edition
Limited Collector’s Edition of 300 copies
Copies 1–50 signed and numbered
9 × 12 inches, landscape format
94 interior pages
Full-color photography
Printed and bound in the United States
ISBN 979-8-90727-898-1
First Edition, 2026
Published by Big Open Publishing L.L.C.
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ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Steven G. Smith is a documentary photographer, cinematographer and 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow whose work has explored American culture and the human experience for more than three decades.
Smith shared in the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for the Rocky Mountain News coverage of Colorado’s wildfires. He is an eleven-time recipient of the Pictures of the Year International award and received a National Endowment for the Arts American Master Artist Grant. His work has been exhibited at institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, National Constitution Center, Gilcrease Museum, Frost Art Museum, Missouri History Museum and The Durham Museum.
He is also the author of Under the Dark Sky: Life in the Thames River Basin, published by Wesleyan University Press in 2018.
Smith approaches photography as a way of paying attention. His work is grounded in curiosity, observation and respect for the people and places he photographs.
These United States continues that practice on a national scale.
ABOUT BIG OPEN PUBLISHING
Independent. Artist-led. Made for the printed page.
Big Open Publishing was established to produce fine art books where the integrity of the work determines the book's form.
The press is particularly interested in long-form photography, documentary practice and projects that explore people, culture and place.
We believe in the permanence of the printed photograph and in books made to be returned to, collected and lived with.
Big Open Publishing L.L.C.
Purveyor of Fine Art Photography Books.
© 2026 Big Open Publishing L.L.C.
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