We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matthew Shelley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matthew below.

Matthew, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

It’s a natural inclination for a professional in an artistic field to instill their own desires for outcome into the work. In my field, I am referring to unfortunate habit of making the photos being taken an extension of my own creative needs while measuring them against what I believe to be quality work. Unfortunately, no matter the technical prowess or the sense of pride I may feel in an image, the most important determination of a successful image is how it makes the client feel about themselves. This requires an acknowledgement of ego and an acceptance of service over personal desire. What I often find stunning in a technical sense has nothing to do with what the subject feels proud to share. Removing my own needs in order to better serve those I photograph has helped me define a new idea of success. I must be fully present for the needs of the subject I am photographing, and in doing, success becomes much more accessible.

Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Like many photographers, I’ve photographed anything and everything over my 20 year career. What brings it into it’s greatest iteration is realizing where I shine and dedicating myself to that. What I love most is helping professionals feel confident in how they display themselves to the world. And beyond just taking images that they love is creating an experience around the photo that is painless and fun. I love nothing more than someone telling me how much fun they had after our shoot. It’s common for people to assume that portraits are an arduous, time consuming experience, but they don’t have to be.

I fell in love with photography while assisting at a wedding in 2004. I knew immediately that there was something special and I wanted more of it. I haven’t put my camera down since. And while most of my time is spent photographing people, I also love nature photography. On a recent excursion in Big Bend I realized that I felt no obligation to have my camera along, only joyful excitement at capturing something I love. When I got back to work feeling refreshed, I realized that each part of my photography feeds the other.

And lastly, I love that I always have more to learn. An ever changing challenge keeps me inspired and driven and at every shoot I do, I learn something new. That’s not to say that I don’t still fall on my face and struggle to put forth the appropriate effort and energy from time to time, but I always come back to the work and the drive to improve. It’s many times unpredictable, and I love that.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

In my business, I survive almost solely on word-of-mouth, so reputation is everything. In all my years, I’ve always made my best effort to delivery quality work. In those instances where I fell short, I always owned the mistakes and took on whatever cost was required to fix the problem. Never settling for just ok has helped me build a reputation of respect and sincerity.

I also find it surprising that photographers have a reputation of being difficult to reach, whether that’s via email or phone. It is incredibly valuable to prioritize communication in all forms. Even when I can’t give a full answer, I always respond. Letting people know they’ve been heard and their needs are being met has helped set myself apart as a reliable resource in this field.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are two ways. The first is repeat business. When someone trusts me enough to maintain my work as a part of their business, it’s a relationship I don’t take for granted. And secondly is when I see my work displayed in publication, online or even on billboards. There is no better feeling than knowing that I helped someone feel confident enough to show themselves to the world in order to improve their own success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.matthewshelley.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-shelley/