Hi. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Matt. I am 50 years old. I started taking pictures when I was about 9 years old. My first pictures were taken with a “Hawkeye” camera of the Lilac Parade here in Spokane. I must have shot a dozen rolls of film that day. Over the years, those pictures have been lost. I used this camera for years, then I bought a Polaroid square shooter 2, which I used until I wore it out. I then shot a lot of pictures with an instamatic. I took a lot of sunrise and sunset pictures of Mt. St. Helens and Long Beach. I used this camera until it was stolen out of my dad’s van. I bought my first 35mm point and shoot camera in 1984. I used this camera until I bought my first Single Lens Reflex. I was working as a grader in a lumber mill when I purchased my first S L R and a 28 – 70mm zoom lens. I taught myself how to use the camera and the different effects I could get with the different settings and some of the many different filters that I had.

I have done a few weddings and a lot of public relations photos for my cousin when he was promoting the use of helmets for the Head Injury Foundation of Washington. My cousin has since passed away from cancer.

When the lumber mill shut down, I went back to school and took a photography course. I graduated with an AA degree in Fine Arts Photography. I still find it hard to believe that I was able to do something like that after being out of formal education for 25 years!

I currently work as a school custodian. I am able to do my photography at the school during school functions. I do get out and do my nature, landscape photography.

My wife, Deb, helps me with the business. She is the one who set up this web site for me.

Deb and I met 26 years ago, but due to age differences, her family came between us and sent her to a girls’ home.

New Year’s Eve 1999, while I was in a hospital in Missoula, MT, recovering from a broken ankle, I called an old friend who lives there, and she told Deb where I was at. Deb called me in my room. We talked for a while, and we agreed she would come to visit. During that day, she tried to sneak in undetected with some flowers. She made it into the room ok, but I busted her when she left the hospital on her way back to work. We found that the love we had for each other was still there and still alive. She moved to Spokane 6 months later with my help, and we were married November 11th of that year. Her move coincided with the marriage of her daughter, Krissy. Deb likes to tell people that when her daughter grew up, she (Deb) left home and got married.

The pictures that landed me in the hospital are of Holland Falls in the winter.

I love all aspects of photography, whether it is working in the studio, in the field, in the darkroom, or on the computer. At times it can be very stressful, but it is a stress that is very rewarding when you can see and appreciate the end result. The reward is being able to share these results with others.