It begins.....

First, about me and my line of work and how I got to where I am. My name is Matt and I am a freelance photographer living in Rhode Island and working mostly in Massachusetts. I have had a grand plan to become a photographer for many years now. The plan when I was younger was to become a surf photographer in the northeast. I figured, I surf, I love photography, why not meld those two passions and give the northeast the coverage it deserves!

Well funny thing about being a surfer in the northeast. We do get great surf, but when it arrives it doesnt usually last all that long and it isnt always that often. So that would lead to shots like the one posted here. If you notice, the wave is small because the swell is dying down. It is also the end of the day, and the light is almost gone entirely. Thats because I had spent almost all of it in the water surfing my ass off knowing that it would be gone by morning. Sure enough, it was. I just didnt have the patience to sit behind a camera watching the best waves of a swell pass before me.

Shot on Fuji Velvia 100 with a Pentax k-1000

So my next plan become a fine art photographer. Well lets just skip over that period which involved lots of photos of empty buildings and parking lots. The shots werent too bad its just that I realized that whole line of work is like 90% marketing. Okay maybe less for some folks but I needed something with less networking and more shooting.

Then I met Dave http://degphoto.com/ I was working a day job in Boston and photographing things going on around the city during my lunch hour and after work. I bumped into Dave at the Democratic National Convention. He liked my camera, he offered to look at my work, and eventually took me under his wing. He taught me the ropes of photojournalism and basically helped me get my foot in the door and land my first editorial job.

Now I freelance full time for a few different outfits and try and make a living at this ever changing field. See how easy that was! I kinda glossed over the hard parts and all but this post is too long already.

Anyway, I wanted to start my own photo blog because, well because my lady has one: http://photogerblogger.blogspot.com/ but also because I used to have a blog (before it was cool) and have gotten away from it since I started working outside rather than at a desk. This is going to be a place to just post photos of mine that I like and share them with others, as well as some stories about the job. Most likely it will lean heavy towards the quirky side of things.