I’m Matt, a candid, film-inspired Charlottesville-based wedding photographer

My love for photography started in abandoned buildings around Roanoke with friends towards the end of high school. We’d wander through old, falling-apart places and make weird art. It was the best. Shortly afterwards, I started shooting assignments for a newspaper in Harrisonburg, which eventually grew into two years as one of the paper’s photo editors. Photojournalism wasn’t really the thing for me in the end, but it taught me a lot about telling stories candidly through images.

I almost stopped taking photos professionally after leaving the newspaper. I was in the process of applying to medical school. I wanted to second shoot one wedding as a bucket-list-kinda-thing before throwing in the towel. I really didn’t think I’d like it! I was super wrong.

When I got in to documenting couples + their love back then, I figured it’d be exploring new places that would be my favorite part of weddings. I wouldn’t have guessed that photographing the connection between two people and their supporting community of friends + family would end up being the real magic stuff that I’d love. It’s like the best parts of my time back at the newspaper turned up to 11. So while the epic backdrops can feel very unreal at times, it’s my couples + their stories that are the heart of what I do.

I’ve learned a whole lot about weddings after shooting over 100 of them. I’m a firm believer in breaking norms and not necessarily doing what the Wedding Industry tells you are the 10 Things You Need To Do To Have a Perfect Wedding. What’s struck me the most over all these years is that the parts of your wedding that are truest to you - in which you don’t try to have a Perfect Wedding but instead a perfect wedding for you - are always the most memorable parts.

Want to say your vows on a glacier in Denali while doing magic tricks for each other? Want to party in denim jackets with your cats’ faces embroidered on them? Want to have your ceremony under a planetarium dome? Nothing’s too crazy or weird if it’s true to you.

And I'm also a big believer in impromptu road trips all over the world. I typically go on at least one that sounds totally insane every year. I plan it two weeks beforehand. Half the time I'm hanging out the passenger window with a Polaroid camera. It's awesome! Some highlights have been the Scottish Highlands and a lap of the Washington parks, including a genuinely insane day hike of the Enchantments. Most recently, it was a 5,000 mile drive to Big Bend in a van with a goal of: Get Us To The Warmest Place In The Country In December Please And Thank You.

So give me cool road-trip ideas and we'll be best friends.

I think this job is really, really freaking awesome because I love getting to hang out with awesome couples and unique people at their giant crazy (or intimate) love celebrations, telling their stories through photos.

So you be you. I'll bring the cameras. 

How I'd describe my documentation style: Un-posed, cinematic, & adventurous

Favorite lens: 35mm f/1.4

Favorite film: Portra 400

Favorite film: (500) Days of Summer

Favorite city: Seattle (and Chicago)

Stuff I love: riding bikes on forest roads, instant film, Bon Iver, travel, indie rock, prime lenses, plaid shirts, Angel Olsen, golden sunlight, the Pacific Northwest, this cat gif

Photo inspiration: Alexandra Celia, Jordan Voth, Mike Grittani, Carly Romeo