Matt Smith

Photographer

Bio

 

Inspired in my early twenties by a work colleagues portfolio of street photography, I bought my first 35mm SLR with one lens, and began shooting film.  I’m entirely self taught, learning through personal study and experience, progressing over the years through a range of different cameras and formats until I found Large Format, with its retro methodical process, using a range of movements and techniques to draw attention to the subject.  This is where photography for me took another step, and where I started exhibiting my work in various media and exhibitions.  Now I shoot purely digital, using large sensor cameras to obtain that light and detail expressed via the subject..

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Background

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As you might imagine from the gallery, I have a wide selection of interests, some of which you might say, are poles apart, but they all share a part in who I am, shaped no doubt from early experiences in a family that shared the same.

 

I can't really remember when the interest in nature began to develop, but as we lived on a hill with virgin bush beyond the fence, I did spend a fair amount of my childhood hopping over that fence and exploring the reserves beyond our home.  I could roam the bush for days, and much hasn’t changed.  I still love getting out there; but it wasn’t until photography came along that I began to see beyond the creation to the creator.   I’ve been a Christian since a young age, and see a world created not evolved.  The power and majesty of the natural world, not to mention its intricate complexity of detail, point not to a chaotic purposeless existence, but to an all knowing, all powerful God.  That is my inspiration in all things.

 

Cars and Planes on the other hand came from my father, who used to tinker and drag us off to the nearest Airshow.  A product of my time, I lean mostly towards the classic car scene of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, where the casual and sometimes excessive styling, combined with mechanically designed engines were not just functional but a form of art in function.  The same for the aviation era during and around the second world war.  Apart from the history, a story in itself, aircraft of this era are rich in character and artistic design.  There is nothing honestly as thrilling as experiencing a Spitfire in full song.  These machines were built for a purpose and flown by ordinary folk, that did extraordinary things.  But it's not just the machines alone, it's the people behind them that developed and built them and those that sat in the hot seat that motivate my interest.

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The discovery of Infrared monochrome photography, started not long after I picked up a camera.  There was a small movement in the genre, which in those days was all film.  Like Black and White Infrared displays an alternative view of what we see, it tends to lend an ethereal quality to the natural landscape and evoke a sense of the past as if through a dream.  Thats how i interpret it anyway.