Shmith's father gave him a camera as a teenager and what was a hobby became a profession in his late teens when Shmith, who had an interest in theatre and played at charity performances, including acts with the 'Youth and Laughter Revue', was asked to take the publicity photographs and stills for a show. He saw there was a career in his former hobby and, for the first five years he specialised in theatre work and society and wedding portraits through which he first made his reputation. He exhibited his works in photographic salons at home and abroad. At age 17 his work, among 7,000 international entries was awarded a bronze plaque in the Colonial and Overseas photographic Exhibition, and shown in the
Royal Photographic Society’s salon in London. at 75A
Fltzroy Street, cnr. Jackson Street, St Kilda and in May that year his portrait of Mr. John Atkinson, an
Australian Air Force pilot, was exhibited as the only Australian entry in the International Salon of Photography, Chicago. Shmith's professional break had come in the early 1930s when he gained the contract to take portraits of visiting celebrities for the newly formed
Australian Broadcasting Commission. Shmith's work expanded to include a range of commercial advertising and illustration and appeared in local society magazines including
Table Talk, with cover images by 1934, by which time he was starting to concentrate on fashion, and had joined the social set himself, with his family holidays being reported in newspapers. At the age of just 19 he was appointed Vice-Regal Photographer in Melbourne, and was contracted for stage and publicity photography by theatre producer
J.C. Williamson Limited. When in 1936 he showed with
Julian Smith and Spencer Shier in the annual exhibition of the Victorian salon of photography at the
Athenaeum Galleries, modernist artist and
Sun newspaper critic
George Bell praised Shmith's "delicate tonal nuance in
Nude in Repose," and a pictorial report in
The Australasian featured his
Technical Inspection from the same show. He exhibited in October at the Kodak gallery, when
Harold Herbert of
The Argus noted that "Mr. Athol Shmith is original in
Nude In Repose. That year he was advertising as a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), had secured the
Myer Emporium as a fashion client, and
The Argus ran a congratulatory article on his overseas successes at "only 22 years"; in Boston's
American Annual competition; the
Chicago Century of Progress Fair; receiving a request from
Arnold Glngrlch, founder of
Esquire for examples of his work; and as the subject of a special article in the French art magazine
La Revue Moderne. He won prizes in
Jugoslavia and
Vienna, then in 1937 exhibited at the
Cape Town and
Dublin international salon, and in June it was reported that he had been made an Associate of the British
Royal Photographic Society. By the late mid-1930s, he was seen as representing a new modern style of work, and to meet demand, he employed other photographers including
Hans Hasenpflug in 1937. Shmith was active in the Melbourne Camera Club from 1938, for whose members he held demonstrations in his studio. ==Collins Street studio==