A Brandon photographer is making headlines internationally for his photo collections of Manitoba's Hutterite colonies.

Tim Smith has been featured in American media such as the New York Times and CNN.

"I kind of stumbled upon the first colony, Deerboine, [that's] the main one that I visit. And I just fell in love with the culture and was just really interested in how different it was but how close it was to home," Smith told CBC's Radio Noon.

Having grown up in Winnipeg, Smith said he knew about Hutterites, having seen them around town from time to time, but what little he thought he knew turned out to be wrong, he said.

"So I wanted to dig deeper immediately," he said.

Initially, Smith imagined that this would be a small project but the more time he spent in the colonies and the more he learned, the more he wanted to produce a comprehensive body of work.

"So on that first day that I was out photographing the women working in to garden, one of the young women pulled out a flip phone and took a photograph of me, taking a photograph of them. That kind of changed something. These weren't the quaint, technologically-backwards people that a lot of people might assume."

Smith's photos explore how Hutterites are embracing mainstream society while holding onto their faith and traditions that have endured for hundreds of years.

Smith has spent six years taking pictures for this project and he said it was difficult to put them out into public view. He was worried about how they would be received because he knows stereotypes about Hutterites still exist and people can be judgemental, but he says so far people have been receptive.