We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matthew Charles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Matthew , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
All of my learning about photography has been self taught so far. YouTube videos, podcasts, books, really anything I could get my hands on to learn about photography. At first focusing on the fundamentals, what makes a good photo. Lighting, composition, exposition. And along the way learning conceptual lessons with a dose of maturity. Some of the most helpful skills were the technical ones, and helped me build a style, and change that style alongside my goals. Yet sometimes what can be helpful can turn into a handicap too, as I had spent so much attention to the technical side, I meanwhile was neglecting making work that truly meant something to me, work based on my best ideas for concepts. Projects that taught me things about myself.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’m a 24 year old living in Detroit, I am a mixologist and conceptual portrait photographer. I’ve been learning & making photography for around 8 years now. When I was a younger guy, around 18 and fresh out of high school I was poised to pursue a photojournalism degree at a local university in Detroit. I grew up writing stories, and loved taking photos, it seemed perfect. Yet It was 2016, and no matter your political views, anyone can agree, journalism was clearly a heaping pile of biases and divisive information. Part of me found that to be inspiring, because so much needed to be worked on, so much progress could be made. Albeit, spending 50k on a bachelor’s degree, I’d be lucky to make 25k a year in salary, & the prospect of not being able to truly report on news or write, without a producer controlling the product. After some reflection I pulled out of the enrollment, and worked restaurant jobs while focusing on my hobby of photography.
It didn’t take long however to recognize how much I loved it, and I soon took on tougher concepts and styles, as I evolved. I enjoyed nature photography in my teens, moving into architecture and travel, and finally into the most intimidating to me at the time, portraiture. I recall using friends, myself, pets, anything with a soul, to practice on. Quickly I found other artists to shoot with as well. I started working with musicians, especially the Detroit Hip Hop scene where I was lucky enough to work with some of the most established artists at that time. I no longer worked in restaurants, I was a full time photographer. Yet none of it felt fully clicking for me. There was a void, everything seemed to lack meaning. My work never had a sprinkle of who I am in it, it never included who I was at all actually. I was approaching it like a journalist, a fly on the wall which is all I knew at 18, and it was becoming my biggest aversion to growing. It no longer was about technical skill, now it was about concept and style, where I often felt lost, and is often the more challenging thing to grasp.
Right up into the pandemic I pushed the reset button on my work. No more fly on the wall, I felt called to use my work to peek within myself, to feel like what I create is genuine to who I am or who I’ve been. From self portraits to small exposés on mental health, which started to impact me hardest around 21, creating concepts about how it felt helped me understand it better. The past few years has been a path of looking within, and figuring out who am I really as a human and artist.
Another way I reset my path was I stopped doing commercial and real estate photo work, which was paying my living. Some people can balance making marketable art, and finding passion in it. I hope I will one day, but the way I was doing it wasn’t for me. For now, I’m happy being a bartender and making & being a part of projects I can truly be proud of in my own time. I continue today to make conceptual portrait projects, and often still love to work on things such as film sets, or creating press photos for other artists.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn the notion that if you don’t make art full time or pay your bills with it, you aren’t really an artist, or a professional. I was really hard on myself for awhile about it when I stepped back from my gigs to focus on me. Since then I’ve met many older, much more established artists who have done the same in their journey, and it didn’t make me see their work any differently. So the question became where did I learn to look at myself in that light?
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The introspection & accountability. I feel a need to be the best version of myself, and create work that showcases that. On the flip side, it’s such a tremendous opportunity of vulnerability & humanity, both from myself as well as the people I work with. Creating art can feel like dropping the walls down that we put up between ourselves and others, even if for a moment.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/damnyoumatthew
Image Credits
In order of upload. #1 & #2 Sandra Cutean # 3 Serafim Mazurs #4 Rico Anthony #5 Coast Wilde #6 Anonymousvirtuosity #7 Hailey Hayward