Biography
Hello and thank you for visiting my website. I hope
you enjoy it and are touched in some way by the images I have created!
I was born in WA
D.C. on January 13th 1963 moving to the Northwest at the age of six. While
growing up in Washington State I spent my youth surrounded by beautiful
nature - hiking, camping, fishing and snow skiing. I was raised in an
artistic family by a father who was a talented graphic artist, who painted
and drew on the side while owning his own advertising business.
My mother was a
very talented ballerina who danced on stage for the Jeoffrey Ballet in New
York City when she was younger and taught ballet for many years
thereafter. In my early teens I had a stepfather who played many
instruments and he encouraged me to play. I was fortunate growing up
surrounded by very artistic family members so naturally I participated in
music and the arts.
Fresh out of high
school I joined the United States Air Force working as an Avionics
Technician spending 3 of the 5 years overseas in Korea and Germany. While
traveling abroad in the military I gathered an interest in photography. I
am self taught and have studied many books by some of the great
contemporary nature photographers such as Art Wolfe, John Shaw, David
Muench, Bill Fortney, Tim Fitzharris and the late Galen Rowell (to name a
few of my favorites).
After I was
honorably discharged from the Air Force I continued to travel and still do
to this day together with my supporting wife, creating photos whenever I
can. As of this day we have been to over 2/3rds of National Parks in the US
with plans of visiting and photographing all of them.
Up until a few
years ago I primarily shot negative film with a Canon 35mm Rebel-G.
Although I wasn’t using top of the line equipment or shooting with
transparencies, I noticed that I was getting a lot of positive feedback on
my images. So at that point I decided to go all the way and invest in a
full on professional 35mm set up. Now, I exclusively shoot slide film with
a Canon EOS 1V (see equipment list) and like the mobility 35mm gives me
since I do a large portion of my shooting out in nature (sometimes in the
high country). With my 24 years of experience working on aircraft in a
technical field combined with my artistic background, photography is a
perfect format for expressing my creativity.
Peace and may all your days
be filled with light and prosperity!
Russ Matthes
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MISSION STATEMENT
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To travel the world with my loving wife in search of
outstanding light, tripod in one hand, camera in the
other. Creating images (especially) of nature and ancient
sacred sites. Inspiring people to want to travel,
experience, respect and protect our beautiful home we call
Earth. To be recognized and respected as a world class
photographer having developed my own unique style. To have
my prints published in books and magazines as well as
selling in galleries world wide. |
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