Meet Your Neighbor: Brandan Smith — Ocean City’s Most Multifaceted Officer
FROM PHOTOGRAPHY TO FISHING TO 3D PRINTING, OCPD OFFICER AND FAMILY MAN BRANDON SMITH KNOWS HOW TO KEEP BUSY
IN A TOWN LIKE OCEAN CITY, WHICH TOES THE LINE BETWEEN HAVING THE SMALL SHORE TOWN FEEL WHILE DEFENDING ITS TITLE OF “AMERICA’S GREATEST FAMILY RESORT,” it would be hard for one sole person to stake their claim as the most interesting person on the island. There are countless entrepreneurs, people with unique hobbies, athletes, actors and everything in between that call Ocean City home, yet Brandon Smith, an Ocean City lifer, is making a strong case for the aforementioned fictional title.
Not only is Brandon a fulltime police officer who holds a Part 107 drone license and heads the department’s drone unit, but he is a photographer/videographer and runs a 3D printing business as well. He pens a monthly fishing column for this very magazine and when he’s not doing any of those things listed above, he likes to fish and spend time with his family.
“I’m a cop with a lot of hobbies,” Brandon said with a laugh.
His first hobby-turned-business venture is photography.
Believe it or not, it all started with tournament paintball, a pastime Brandon and his brother shared when they were younger.
“As facetious as it sounds, I loved seeing the cool picture of me,” he joked. “So I wanted to try my hand at it so I borrowed a buddy’s camera and took some pictures.”
When Brandon and his wife were pregnant with their first child, he upgraded his photography equipment to include a $5,000 camera. From there he linked up with Tackle Direct, a local fishing outfitter, started his own media company called
“FloodTide Media” (@FloodTideMedia on Instagram) and the rest is history.
“They let me take over their media, take product photography on the water,” Brandon explained. “They gave me a shot and that’s where I built my experience.”
As if flying drones recreationally and using them to take aerial pictures, fishing and running social media accounts wasn’t enough, Brandon picked up one more hobby: 3D printing.
“That spiraled out of control,” he chuckled.
And who can blame him? When a friend who builds and services 3D printing machines calls up and offers a free machine, you just have to take it. That was the 2024 holiday season; Brandon familiarized himself with the software and printed out knickknacks for his kids. Eventually, he printed one of those large, gaudy hype chains that are all the rage at sporting events – just in time for the Eagles playoff run that season.
“It came out really cool,” he recalled. “One of the guys at work saw it, asked for one and paid for it.”
And then he started printing more Eagles hype chains. Then came the Phillies hype chains. And then he bought a bigger printer.
He sold so many necklaces and made such a big name for himself that he eventually got a spot at Stainton’s to sell 3D printed goods. In the last year, he has sold out his space, expanded it to a larger space and has a second space at Stainton’s kids.
The popular items are sports related, specifically Phillies and Eagles, as well as dragons, fidget toys and animals. He has five machines that run almost around the clock to keep up with the stock and keep the stores filled. His shop, known as the maker wing of Flood Tide Media and coined @OCNJ_3DPrints on Instagram, is where you can see all the cool Ocean City and locally themed pieces Brandon is creating.
At the end of the day, Brandon is everything Ocean City is.
His pride for the island is only outmatched by how many hats hes willing to wear at any given time – whether that’s fishing in the bay, going to a dance recital, taking epic drone pictures of the sunset over the island or anything in between. He is a family man who doesn’t take anything for granted.
And while being the unofficial most interesting man in Ocean City doesn’t necessarily make Brandon the most interesting man in the world, he still finds time to do a darn good Jonathan Goldsmith impression between all of his extra curricular activities. (You know, the man who famously portrayed “The Most Interesting Man in the World” in those Dos Equis commercials.)
“I like to remind myself that I live at the beach,” Brandon said, “and there’s nothing better than this.”
Brandon Smith is active on social media @ FloodTideMedia and @OCNJ_3DPrints.
By Anthony J Mazziotti III