Light that Lasts - Blue Fier Remembered through SMC Celebration of Life Exhibit
Faculty, alumni, family and friends gathered at Santa Monica College on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, to celebrate the life and artistic legacy of longtime photography professor Blue Fier during the opening night of the Blue Fier — Celebration of Life Exhibit at the SMC Photography Gallery in Drescher Hall. In his honor, all guests were asked to wear something blue.
The exhibition — open every Tuesday, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. through Sunday, March 15, 2026 — invites students and the broader campus community to experience more than four decades of Fier’s creative work as a writer, sculptor and photographer.
Fier taught photography at SMC for more than 25 years before retiring in 2020. Fier is known for his nonjudgmental teaching style, sharp sarcasm and encouragement of experimentation; he influenced generations of student photographers.
Fier advised his fellow colleagues not to be an authority, but rather a guide. He passed away in September 2025 at age 75 after living with Parkinson’s disease for nearly two decades.
SMC photography professor Craig Mohr and photography professor Ed Mangus, spearheaded the installation of the exhibition honoring his longtime colleague. Zack Reed Fier, Fier’s oldest son, said he rediscovered his dad’s catalog while curating the show.
Before Fier was a photographer, he was a sculptor for 20 years and exhibited his work all across the world. The challenge became not so much how to fill the space, but which ones were the most important pieces to display.
When asked if he has a favorite photo by his father, Zack Reed Fier said, ”I would love to say I do, but I don’t … I rediscovered how cool his body of work is. There is one of the Grand Canyon and I remember being there with him as a kid when he was shooting that location. There is so much memory attached to all this.”
Mohr emphasized that Fier’s panoramic and landscape photography best represents his vision of photography in the exhibition. Among the prints is an image featuring an orange wall and a note by Blue Fier reading, “Notice how the person leaning against the wall adds scale to the image. My older brother Johnny, seen here, always felt he was pushing up against the walls of society.”
Another highlight for visitors is Fier’s participation in the collaborative Daily Photo Game, described as a visual dialogue between 10 photographers responding to one another through imagery in 24 hours.
Students visiting the gallery encounter not only photographs but also other elements. Guests interacted with The Sound Walk, a brass scale model connected to Fier’s pyramid sculpture exhibited in San Francisco Airport and various museums, illustrating how his work extended beyond traditional photography. Others were following a display showing a video of Fier’s legacy, “Blue Fier — A Documentary.”
Fier had a deep interest in Photography History, which inspired him to coordinate the SMC Free Family Portraits Project after the Woolsey Fire in 2018. Mohr remembers this project as one of his proudest moments he experienced while working with Fier and as a photographer.
Mohr said, “After the Woolsey Fire, he was setting up bringing in all the families who've lost all of their belongings and their photographs, to come here and have their portraits done. And so he organized the cosmetology department, the fashion department, and the photography department to photograph these people. The stories were heartbreaking.”
Faculty members, friends, and former colleagues like Ford Lowcock, Chair of the photography department at that time, gathered throughout opening night, sharing memories while guiding visitors through the prints and installations.
Earlier in the day, a memorial service held in the Professor Harvey Stromberg Lecture Hall brought together family, colleagues and alumni.
Fier’s wife, Kim Saunders, performed the song “Night and Day”, and his brother, Tom Fier, shared a feeling of a missing piece through losing his identical twin brother. Fier’s longtime friend, Victor Raphael, shared the inspiration behind the creation of a documentary for Fier’s sons, Zack Reed Fier and Easton Fier. The film followed his 45-year legacy of creative life. The documentary is displayed as an installation at the Celebration of Life Exhibit and can also be viewed on YouTube.
Stories were shared about Fier’s love of 70% dark chocolate, the care of his chickens, Terra and Luna, and his endless visits to The Apple Pan. Blue Fier’s quote, “May good light follow you wherever you go,” closed the Memorial Service.
Offering more than a memorial, the exhibition functions as an educational opportunity for current art and photography students who are discovering Fier’s work for the first time. From panoramas and landscapes to conceptual exchanges and deeply personal notes attached to prints, the gallery reveals how Fier approached photography.
Visitors moved through images that reflect travel, family life, humor and observation. It was a chance to study not only photographs, but a teacher who encouraged others to see differently.