Teacher, photographer, commercial director – Ron Baxter Smith is an explorer, not only of various mediums and art forms, but also of ideas and visual stimuli.

With degrees in fine arts and art education, Toronto-born Baxter Smith taught in a high school for three years. Just as his post was terminated due to declining enrollment, he received notice of a Canada Council grant for fine arts photography and jumped at the chance to discover new artistic terrain. He made a two-year return to teaching after his grant money ran out, but realized the school environment wasn’t for him.

The word impossible doesn’t seem to be in Baxter Smith’s vocabulary. Making a complete career switch, he opened his own print photography business. The fact that he had never taken a technical photography class didn’t sway him a bit. He would teach himself.

His gamble paid off. The first print ads he landed were for the Hazelton Lanes boutiques in Toronto, and over the next 14 years his commercial work included ads for Seagram’s and Canadian Airlines, corporate work such as annual reports for Northern Telecom, and editorial shoots for gq, Toronto Life and Newsweek.

But two years ago, after being introduced to the late Richard Radke, Baxter Smith once again sought out uncharted artistic domains. ‘Richard saw my photographs and said, `I had no idea there was a photographer like this in Toronto, you should be a director,’ ‘ recalls Baxter Smith.

Again, without any technical film training and after 14 years of concentration in stills photography, Baxter Smith took Radke up on an offer to put together a spot.

Radke was both a strong professional and personal influence for the new director.

‘Richard and I became incredibly close friends,’ he says. ‘I learned tons from him. He took the time to nurture my ability. Professionally, I owe Richard my understanding of the business and my introduction to all the people in it.

‘As a photographer, I understood the shooting and the concepts. The thing I did not understand was the edit and the transfer, and Richard very graciously asked Andy Ames at Partners’ (now at Panic and Bob) to sit with me at great length and teach me.

‘I tell you what else I learned from Richard, life is short, do it now.’

And that’s exactly what Baxter Smith did. After a year of directing at Radke Films, he moved on to Kessler Irish Films.

Just like his quick rise to success in stills photography, with only two years of directing under his belt, Baxter Smith’s spots have received national and international acclaim.

Commercials for the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Barnes Exhibit and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra were recognized at the 1995 Bessies, and his Fruit of the Loom spots received top honors at this year’s Bessies, as well as international recognition. His reel also includes a powerful psa for the aids hotline and a 1996 Bessie award-winning spot for Shoppers Drug Mart.

‘He’s got a great eye, he is able to capture the essence of things,’ says Doug Lowe at Saatchi & Saatchi. ‘Too many directors make their images so overblown that the idea gets lost. Baxter Smith doesn’t let his visual style overwhelm the message.’

When Baxter Smith looks at a storyboard it all boils down to a single bottom line.

‘I look for the idea, a strong idea, a simple idea, a good idea. That’s all,’ he says.

On his strengths as a director, Baxter Smith is reticent, but when pushed he’ll talk.

‘My strength is in how I look at ideas. My background is conceptual photography and that means you look for an idea that photographically illustrates what is presented to you. So you always have this one single thought in your mind that you’re looking to create. That’s great groundwork for commercials where you are presented with an idea and you look for ways to support that idea – trimming it, paring it down or embellishing it, modifying it so the communication becomes stronger.’

Baxter Smith’s style is succinct and clear. His Fruit of the Loom pool is an example of the striking simplicity of his work. Women’s underwear has never received so much attention since his ‘really, really comfortable underwear’ pool through Leo Burnett. What did he bring to the boards?

‘It’s what I didn’t do that’s probably most important,’ he explains. ‘The agency came up with a really great idea and fabulous copy. I had the discipline to keep the idea incredibly simple, letting the idea come across and communicate.’

Baxter Smith’s approach to dialogue is also characteristically simple.

‘I want to communicate,’ he says, then pauses. ‘That sounds bizarre, doesn’t it. But that’s the key and I think I do it. In my work, dialogue points to the visual qualities and the visuals point back to the dialogue. If someone opens their mouth on camera it has to be appropriate to the point of the commercial. How somebody says something has to be manipulated, modulated to make it fit the idea.’

In commercials, the work of directors Michael Hausmann and Michael Bay have grabbed his attention.

‘Their spots are about ideas and everything supports the point. If it doesn’t come back to the idea then it’s about nothing,’ he explains. ‘It’s like Steve Martin saying to John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, `If you are going to tell a story, for God’s sake, have a point.’ ‘

He considers Bill Irish an incredible storyteller. ‘The red bicycle for Canadian Tire was the one and only time I was brought to tears in 30 seconds, where my eyes actually watered. That’s a powerful ability.

And it is storytelling that dictates his his style. ‘I wouldn’t narrow myself down to one style,’ he says. ‘My style is about using whatever is available that will strengthen the communication. Technique – this lens, that lens, editing – it should all fit back to whether it’s appropriate.’

Just as he won’t be pigeonholed stylistically, Baxter Smith says he likes working on a wide variety of spots, from story-driven to more surreal storyboards.

‘It doesn’t matter. I hate beets, that’s about all I hate,’ he laughs. ‘My strength isn’t in one specific area, and if I found myself doing all one thing, I would change what I was doing because I wouldn’t be able to bring a freshness to it.’