Pennie Smith was born in London in 1949. Interested in art from a young age, she attended Twickenham Art School in the late 1960s, where she studied graphic design and fine art. This background in design helped shape her direct, high-contrast visual style before she moved into music photography.
Smith began her career working on underground publications. Between 1969 and 1972, she collaborated with graphic designer Barney Bubbles and music journalist Nick Kent on Frendz magazine, and she designed the sleeve for the Pink Fairies' 1970 album, Never Never Land.
Her first major photography assignment came in the early 1970s, when she went on tour with Led Zeppelin. Shortly after, she joined the New Musical Express (NME) as a freelance photographer. Working almost exclusively in black and white, she shot the majority of NME’s front covers until the publication switched to color in the early 1980s.
Over her career, Smith photographed many of music's biggest acts, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, U2, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Blur, and Radiohead.
Her most famous image was taken in 1979 during a concert with The Clash, capturing bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass guitar on stage in New York. The photo became the iconic cover for the album London Calling. In 2002, Q magazine voted it the "Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Photograph of All Time," and NME honored her with their Godlike Genius Award the same year. She also published a best-selling book documenting her time on the road with the band, The Clash, Before and After (1980).
In subsequent years, Smith’s photography has been collected and shown in major galleries. Her work is held in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, and in 2010, the London Calling photo was featured on a Royal Mail postage stamp.
Her later work includes a photo series on the Notting Hill Carnival for a Red Bull pop-up exhibition and a 2013 collaboration with Damien Hirst on an album cover for Babyshambles. Outside of photography, she converted a disused west London railway station into her studio, where she also co-ran the Osterley Bookshop.
In 2024, she was appointed an MBE for services to photography.