Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Gonzalez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Matthew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Weather Machine Studio’s ultimate goal is to capture photographic magic through professionalism and passion, through service and excitement, through joy and imagination. I have spent my life holding onto a few key principals, building up the people around me, and holding onto a joy that could only be experienced through wonder.
Weather Machine Studio captures moments of your personal Hero’s Journey. we just point and click, you embody that Journey.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I spent my life with my face buried in comic books, something that even my father praised and accepted. I found compassion and values through these heroes, heroes that uplifted the people around them. Heroes that never asked for thanks or praise, but only aimed to better the people that put trust in them. I found joy in these stories, and found those shared creative sparks with my family, my friends, and my experiences. This doesn’t sound like a direct through line to my professional carrier in photography, but I promise it is.
Through some personal hardships, and relying on my family and friends to keep my feet planted, I found my way to photography. It was not my initial passion, but it was stability in my life when I felt like I had no direction. My desire for professionalism and perfection of the product led me to find genuine joy in the seeing students and families light up seeing a side of themselves they didn’t think possible. I decided at that point that I was indeed a photographer and that I had a unique vision to create something special… Now I just needed to do the work.
I had a vision of creating jaw dropping images and telling stories through my art… though stylistically I had know idea what I would be producing, I knew that it had to capture to imagination of both myself and the cosplayers who put their trust in me… So I booked my first Comic Con, without even knowing what stylistically what I would be producing, and then set out to create an experience that not only captured my sense of childhood joy, but that realization that everyone has was capable of being the hero in their own story, I was just capturing a snap shot of their journey.
Weather Machine Studio specializes in high-end, cosplay, studio portraiture. Both private and public photo shoots, we book 15 min 4 image sessions at Cons, a complete studio experience, and walk you through creating stunning portraits. And my greatest photographic inspiration is comic book panel art. I love the high impact of super hero art, and the stories that could be told in a single comic panel. I wanted that to translate to my portraits… i couldn’t draw to save my life, but I understand people, lighting, composition and how to point a camera in a general direction.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My honest answer… I simply want to make art that would make my inner child live in awe of the story that is sitting before my eyes. Comics mean the world to me, they are a passion I was able to share with my father, they are a passion that I think helped shape the man I am today. I grew up hard, I buried a lot of insecurities down deep. It took me some time to find confidence in myself, I never want anyone to live in that hardship. These portraits me and these cosplayers create are a personal gift that people choose to give to themselves, not knowing if they are capable of something truly special, but trusting that we can create that story that they are able to find pride in. And as my photographic skill grows, I am know creating art for me, Toy Photography is my latest venture, and it is a blast to be able to live my childhood again.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I don’t like the term “Non-Creative”, that implies that creativity is limited to some and not available to all. I don’t find myself to be that creative of a person, as I believe I have an analytical mind, I like structure, composition, fundamentals and method in the art that I create, I think my line of reasoning is more in problem solving and not in creativity. I think everyone has something they are or can be creative with or about. Creativity to me is passion, and I could only hope that everyone is able to find something they are passionate about, And if creativity is a word that might hold you back, do what I do,.. Break it down into procedure, and step by step processes, take each part of the creative process as very much that, a process, tackle one problem at a time, and you might create something you never thought you were capable of.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
-Hellboy – @lindsey.aerialist
-Spider Punk – @cosplaysbybrit
-Drummer Boy – @king_arsonnick
-Cobra Commander – @2original_professional_rookie
– FF7 – Cid: @jacksonisdead_ / Yuffie: @pixie.powered / Aerith: @_halo_cosplay_ / Sephiroth: @thetallgojo_cos / Vincent: @screamloaf / Tifa: @sniffysmelly / Cloud: @chris_edwards2567
-Gambit – @phateheel