Senior Exhibition

Well, Its that time and I am finally graduating after what seems like a thousand years. This Friday December 8th at 5pm will be the Senior Exhibition for all Bachelor of Fine Art majors. I've worked hard these past few months to come up with a piece I hope you will all enjoy. Yes, I am a photography major but I decided to do something a little different from the ordinary! So far the responses have been great. I hope you can stop by Friday night and check out all the fantastic artwork on display. The show will run until December 16th.


Read More......

TurkeyRun 2006

Alright so it's been over a week but its finally time for an update! This weekend Hope, Austin, and I had our fun in Hot Springs Arkansas with the TX4WD during the annual Turkey Run.

Before the outings everyone lined up thier rigs for a picture:



Of course I had to check my flex on the RTI ramp before heading out:




And here is Gill, a friend and excellent spotter taking me up some trails that I probably shouldnt have been on in the first place!



But we made it through all the rocks without any breakage, but that was just the first day...





And of course before heading out the whole DFW chapter had to get a group photo at the top of the mountain, what a great view!!


Read More......

Pumpkins

Well every year Hope, Austin, and I make it a point to carve a pumpkin right before Halloween. This year we waited a little late and the pickings werent quite as good considering the drought... but never the less we still made an effort. Austin is six this year and did a great job on his first pumkin ever. He sketched out the design on paper, we traced it on, and he carved away. What a great job wouldnt you agree?



As for me, I couldnt decide what I wanted to carve and was up for hours looking for ideas on the web. Finally it hit me and I decided I would try Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Judge for yourself but I think it looks more like the Crypt Keeper from the late night USA network back in the nineties!



Unfortunately Hope was working the day before Halloween otherwise the Gollum pumpkin would probably have looked much better. But here are some pumpkins we have carved in the past... our favorite of which is when we take on self portrait pumpkin projects.













See you again next week,

Matt Read More......

I'm going to be a Daddy!... Again!

Well I guess it's time to let the cat out of the bag... my wife Hope and I are going to have a baby at the end of May. At nine weeks it is still too early to tell whether it will be a boy or girl but we are hoping for a girl to even out the playing field. We had our first doctors appointment on Wednesday and were able to see the little one for the first time. I swear that as soon as the screen in the doctor's office became clear I saw her wave at me! They printed out a picture for us and I just wanted to share it with you along with the great news!



Read More......

Jerry Szor Contemporary Jewelry

Alright, Well my blog is a bit overdue but here is one of the many things I have been doing in the last two weeks.

Some of you might know but for quite a while now I have been photographing jewelry for Jerry Szor Contemporary Jewelry.

http://www.jerryszor.com/

The images will be for the up and coming website which is scheduled to be finished sometime this winter. Jerry has been a great guy and furnished me with everything I need to get the job done.

Here is my office and computer...Yes I know its a PC but lets try to keep that on the down low. I couldnt ask for a better view.



And here is the box by MK Digital Direct in which the photos are made, it works great and has many lighting options for each different situation.

http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com/



And the boxes which the jewelry comes in before it is photographed:



And here is an example of some of the jewelry, each piece is a one of a kind made by highly renowned artists from all over the world.












Thanks for looking and I hope to see you again next week...for real this time! Read More......

Katrina Survivors Project

It was Monday August 29th 2005, I was driving down the highway. The roads were starting to get worse and it was still raining on and off. The clouds were letting off as they drifted further north.





Cars were smushed.



Traffic was at a standstill.



I hadn't seen an open gas station for over 100 miles, and cars were running out of fuel alongside the roads.



Even the trains were stopped in their tracks.



But after a while I came as far as I could go. For some reason I wanted so badly to get over that bridge, for on the other side was the city of New Orleans.



It must have been the journalistic instict that led me to come on this crazy adventure, at the time I was so dissapointed. All I wanted was to get into that city and document what was happening. Everyone wanted in, they wanted to return to their homes, after all the hurricane had passed and all was well in the Big Easy. But the way was blocked and I turned around and headed for home. It wasnt until the next morning that the levees finally gave way. The city was underwater, and I came to realized how lucky I was to have NOT made it across that bridge.

Fast forward to November 29th 2005, it was three months later and my jounalistic nature was still kicking. I wanted to return and this time I had a way in. My mom had been deployed by FEMA into New Orleans and I would get a tour of the devastaion first hand. In no way can I describe what I saw, there are no words and even pictures and news stories can hardly begin to show what happened. So instead of focusing on the negative, I decided to try and find a more positive way of deciphering these events.

I toured the costal lands, the streets the neigborhoods, the upper ninth ward looking for signs of activity. Searching for those people which were surveying their homes, cleaning them out, or even beginging to rebuild. It was these people that I talked to and some were kind enough to let me create portraits of them and what was once their homes.

Brandy Feaster of New Orleans, LA


Kenny Melvin of Slidell, LA


Rachel and Rebecca Weidenbacher of Abbeville, LA


Lorraine McDaniel of Violet, LA


George Cramer of Slidell, LA


Cheryl Reichert and Friends of Kenner, LA


Korey Williams, Franice Thomas, and Nakita Shavers of New Orleans, LA


And Others






Some of you might ask, why bring this up now almost a year later. The fact is that in return for letting me take these photographs, I promised to send each person a print. This last year has been extremely busy for me and week after week I kept procrastinating printing and sending the pictures. Well, this week I have stopped delaying and I am printing and prepaing to send them off to their rightful owners.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again next week,

Matt Read More......

This weekend was for the kids!

Well as some of you might know, I am an offroad junkie! Every year the 4x4 club that I am involved with makes it out to the annual Orphans Outing at the Fort Worth Anglers Club. Here, kids of all ages are treated to a surprise as tons of great folks come out to show them a good time. Fire trucks, clowns, hay rides, hot dogs, helicopters, 4x4's, and more are some of the things the kids can enjoy. The Texas Four Wheel Drive DFW chapter makes it out to this event every year to introduce these great kids to the offroading community. As the kids come by and admire the rigs they pick their favorite and are given a ride down to the lake and over some small hills. The kids get a kick out of it, but we get an even greater sense of satisfaction!







Read More......