We recently connected with Matt Canterbury and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?

A photographer named Tim Williams. I followed his social media and every time he would post photos from his sessions, I would be blown away at the quality. One day I said to myself “I’d love to know how he did that”. So I bought a camera with zero knowledge of how cameras work and slowly started learning. In my opinion, my photos still aren’t on his level but I feel pretty good about how far my photography has come in such a small amount of time with zero training.

Matt, 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?

Hello My name is Matt Canterbury and I am the owner of M.C.C. Photos in southern West Virginia. Ive been doing photography for just over two years now. I focus primarily on senior photos for graduating seniors but I offer a wide range of other photo and video services. I really enjoy trying to create things that are unique. I try out so many different angles and different lighting setups until I get the perfect shot. I think that’s why my clients are drawn to me. My photos seem to have a certain style that is recognized just by looking at it and I’m really proud of that. Most of the time clients come to me with no real direction as to what they want. I hear “We trust you” or “You’re the creative one” when I’m on location. While its very stressful to try and remain creative for every client, its also very rewarding to know that I’ve built a reputation that shows creativity! I think that is what sets me apart from other photographers in the area. And I’m not saying that other photographers in the area are bad. Just stating that we are different. There aren’t a lot of photographers in my area that use off camera flash. I’m one of maybe 5. When I first started photography, I had no idea what off camera flash was. I barely knew how to turn my camera on! This is not something I went to school for. I am 100% self taught. YouTube and trial and error is how I learned everything I know. When I get an idea of something I’d like to try out, I ofter ask for volunteers. The volunteers get to see me fumble with my camera and lights until I get everything figured out. I really love photography and people seem to really enjoy my work so I’ll continue doing it until something changes!

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

This is my very first business adventure. I had no clue how to start a business. luckily, my wife Whitney helped me get all of that stuff figured out. I lean on her a lot to take care of that side of the business while I focus on taking and editing the photos. there really is a lot of work that goes into it behind the scenes that she doesn’t get credit for. I wouldn’t be where I am in the business now if it wasn’t for her!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My business is pretty much ran on social media. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are where I show all of my work. Most of my clients book me directly through Facebook. I’ll make a post with some new photos and I typically book 2-3 new clients with each post. That’s where the volunteers come in handy. I’ll have my session with them for free where I perfect new techniques. I’ll post those photos and hopefully others like them enough to want to book a session!

Contact Info:

• Website: MCCPhotoswv.squarespace.com
• Instagram: m.c.c._photography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MattsPhotography86?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Natalie Buracker Aleigha Hill Sadie Spencer Kennah Spencer Kaitlyn Jones Colton Knight Adyson Hines