Do you believe in luck?

I am not sure if I do. I could say yes because since I last wrote something here so much has happened to me in a good way, especially with regards to my business. However so many stressful things have happened to me as well, possible life changing decisions regarding my personal life, and still waiting to see if they were the right ones.

I don't know, luck I think is relative, or maybe the gods are just playing around with us and give us some great things that happen in our life, and at the same time they put us through some really tough tests and challenges to see if we deserved the "hand out" that was given. However you want to view it or philosophize it, life is pretty fucked up at times and at other times, it feels like you have a rabbits foot up your arse!

So business is going great actually. It has been almost exactly a year since I have ventured out "on my own" as far as starting my own business in photography which has been a dream of mine since I was 18, 13 years ago. I now have a very nice studio of my own in a retail shopping center right at the beach. I Have had the opportunity to be the exclusive photographer for two local music recording artists, one Country Pop, the other R&B.

I have obtained more word of mouth work and I have been recognized by some of my mentors and that feels really good. I have straightened out my whole situation with my car and license and I now have my own dependable car. I am starting a local Fashion Magazine which is starting to create a lot of buzz and anticipation. My hands are full, my days are long, my pockets are still light, but then again so is my heart, so maybe that is the trade off.

They say happiness is the most important thing in life, and some people mock that and say there is never such a thing as true happiness. Well there is, you just are looking in all the wrong places you materialistic dumbass! The sooner you realize that money, social status, or material possessions CANNOT bring you true happiness the better off you will be.

Every single person that I talk to about what I do, says that they wish they could do the same thing, not meaning they wish they could be a photographer, they wish they could just grab a hold of their dream and never let go. The very few or couple of people that I have talked to that are doing the same thing I am doing are just a happy as I am and you can see it in their face and their smile and the way they approach life. It's scary! Don't get me wrong, it is really scary sometimes, but it is exciting and it is the best sense of fulfillment you will ever have, unless you have had a child then I am pretty sure that I a pretty awesome feeling.

It doesn't take money to chase your dream, it takes persistence and a huge set of balls!

So here are a few pictures of my place and also a couple of my most recent photo shoots that I have done. If you ever want to check out my website, go to www.212photographystudio.com



J. Collins, Country Pop Artist

Wylie, R&B Recording Artist

Leslie Dix, Pin-Up Model

My Place! Its official I have a sign now!!

Update to my life!

As the world turns it seems, every day something new comes up… good and bad. So its been a little while since I have updated my blog, however I know not many people are keeping up with this anyway… haha. So let’s see…. What has happened over the last month or more?

Business is slowly growing, and it almost seems that it is doing it on its own… because in all honesty I am not doing an aggressive marketing plan or advertising or anything like that. I am networking that is for sure and most of the business that I do get is from word of mouth, which is the best compliment I could get anyhow. I am now one of the main referral photographers for a very awesome Wedding and Events planning company here in Jacksonville, Alpha and Omega Event Planners. Great people there Zandra and Walter, they have big hearts and I love working with them. I am actually shooting the first wedding that they got for me this weekend in Fleming Island at Eagle Harbor, that will be fun.. I love shooting weddings.

I have moved out to Jax Beaches to be closer to the studio. I sold my pos non working car and bought a kick ass little scooter that gets me everywhere I need to be around here and you cant beat 95 miles to the gallon. I spend like $3.50 a week in gas! HAHAHA! I have met another photographer named Derrick and we have worked together once shooting an event down town which was a lot of fun. He is another great guy and we planning on working together more in the months to come.

I have been so busy because I have been moving and also because I am working on a new campaign. I really want to get into the fashion and print ad industry of photography. So I have been photographing a lot of models looking like your traditional model and poses you would see in a clothing magazine or store. My goal is to expand my portfolio that way and to offer my services to small clothing store boutiques in the Jax area, giving them the opportunity to have models wear their clothing and I take high quality prints of them for the business owner to use in their advertising media, however they choose… on the web, news paper or even TV.

Right now I am finishing editing the pictures and picking out my favorites to put into print so I can have a presentation book for the small businesses in the area so they can see my work and hopefully use my services. I will be offering my services at a price point that they can afford and where no other studio would be willing to drop too, yet enough of a money maker for me. That’s the good thing about having almost no over head and very few bills!

I have met some really great people over the past few months… and I have made some good friendships out of them. I am still struggling and trying my best to keep my head above water, but regardless I still wake up every day in a good mood because I love what I am doing and I love where I am going and I love the fact that for the first time in my life.. I am truly happy with myself. I am so excited because for the first time I feel like I have real control over my life and where it is headed and little by little I am building something, something that I know one day is going to be a great, great thing! I love it….

I am averaging a B+ in my college grades and that makes me happy too! Also I am putting together a basic to semi-advance photography course for amateur photographers that want to know more about studio lighting and techniques. I want to help people get better at their craft and their passion… just like someone did for me all those years ago. 

Till next time…. Matt

How it all started...

So what better way to get to know me and my passion, then to know how it all started, what I went through to get here and to know what I am risking to make this work.

Let’s take a quick trip back in time... hummm say about 9 years ago... yea that's about right. Imagine me with not only a full head of hair, but also my new Canon Rebel 35mm camera outfitted with a speedlite 220 flash, strapped to my neck, walking around one of my good friend’s weddings. With his permission and the permission of the "pro photographer" that was hired, I am taking pictures of the wedding, shadowing the photographer. This is when I got my real "itch" for photographing people and special occasions. After the pictures were developed and given to my friend... turns out they liked most of my pictures better than the hired photographer! Talk about a confidence booster!

Well then I move from the small town of Chiefland (embarking on my own) and got a part time job in a photography studio in good ole Gainesville Florida working with Stan Wilkinson Photography. That is when I really started to love studio photography and portraiture. Then it started... the dream of one day having not only my own photography business but my own photography studio!

Ok.... now we are back to present time, and back to a receding hair line...lol. In between that time I have taken many free photography courses, read books, looked at videos, even taken the photography course from New York Institute of Photography and photographed many people and many weddings. I have had the privilege of traveling to states like Indiana, New Jersey, New York and Florida (when I lived in NY) to photograph weddings. I’ve gotten a home studio lighting set and photographed models and family portraits right in my living room.

Well over the years photography has always been a part of my life... a passion of mine and there in the back ground getting pushed further and further out of touch is my dream of having my own studio and having my own photography business. Would it ever happen? Nah... It won’t ever happen... so just pack up your gear in the closet and leave it be. Sitting packed up, gathering dust, my equipment survived a divorce and what seems to be many moves from Florida to NY and back here around Florida, till one day I did what no true photographer would ever do.

Times got hard financially after coming out of a failed business venture. I found myself without a job and no real promises of one on the horizon. Well, rent and electricity still has to be paid right? So I had to pawn my two Digital Canon cameras with all of the accessories and even sold out right my brand new desk top computer, just so I could pay rent and keep the lights on. It hurt... I also had every intention of going back to the pawn shop with enough time to get back my camera gear! So finally I got a job a month later and I have the money to get my gear back... and guess what... they already sold it all...

So how did I end up here, with no camera and a beaten down dream? Not to mention almost all of my portfolio work was lost when my computer crashed and only then did I realize how important backing up would have been. So could I really be a photographer, with no camera and barely any proof of the work I've done?

Well, long story short, I made a friend who over time found out "what a great photographer" I was, in her words. She fed the fire inside me to get back into it. She helped me finance a new camera and put together some business cards so she could tell her friends and start spreading the word to try and help me build my portfolio back up to snuff. This way I could slowly but surely get more business and edge my way into finally being a Studio owner! Truth be told... this was only 6 months ago!

While I was working on my photography and lining up small free and almost free photo shoots, with the help of my friend, I had a full time job as an outside field sales rep for a marketing company. I kind of enjoyed my job and it had some good future potential. The only thing that sucked was that like many field sales positions the pay was 100% commission, so you had to bust your ass to make sure you made enough money to make ends meet. Well that’s what I was doing. Till one day fooling around doing something I shouldn’t have been doing (I'm not 21 anymore with a strong back) I slipped a disc in my back and found myself pretty much bed ridden for a week.

Well 1 week isn’t so bad... I’ll just have to get back to work and bust more ass to make up for the week that I did not get paid.... right? Well come to find out, slipped discs aren't like every other injury I have sustained and it will heal just fine... you just have to work through the pain! HA! Working through the pain put me back out of work 2 weeks later because I wasn’t properly resting my back and this time... who knows how long I have to rest... or else pay the consequences for the rest of my life with a &%$# up back.

With the help of my employer I was able to get workman's comp benefits to at least be able to pay my necessities like rent, lights and food. Back to square one!

Ok Ok... I know... what does all of this have to do with me now and my photography? Well here it is.

One day while lying in bed icing my back after I performed my daily routine of back exercises and stretching. I thought to myself, if I put as much effort and work into my photography as I did working for someone else... I really could make this happen!

After all I was spending 50 hours a week at my J.O.B (Just Over Broke) working for only commission, so if I didn’t make a sale, I didn’t get paid. Isn’t that just like working for yourself? Wouldn’t I enjoy it much more because not only am I the boss, but I’m doing what I love?

Everything seemed to make perfect sense.

So what did I do? I took a leap of faith! How big was this leap of faith? BIG... let me just tell you why.

For one....My license was suspended, for too many points in a 12 month period and for 2 un paid traffic tickets, which by this time were double the fine because I couldn’t afford to pay them on time because I was just making enough money with my job to pay my just my bills... much less $200 in traffic fines.. Which was now $400.

My savings was nonexistent. because I have been struggling since I got this new and wonderful job. I could never put any money aside to save. So I have nothing to "float" me through the all inevitable tough times of starting a business.

All of these things didn’t seem to damper my excitement at all! I made up my mind... if I could make money with this suck ass job I had and just barely make it, then I know I could do it with something that I love, something that burns deep inside of me.

I'm a photographer...it’s what I am, it’s who I am and it’s also what I’m striving to become... all at the same time.

Since then I have started going back to school part time to pursue my Bachelor of Science in Photography. This will only help solidify my career path and the wonderful government is paying for 75% of it with grants and the rest is student loans which I will start to pay back after I graduate obviously.

Since then I have gone from a small homemade studio down stairs in my living room to having access to a state of the art 1,400 sq ft professional studio with one of the most well known model photographers in the Jacksonville area.

I’m booked with photo shoots for the next two weeks…

I have partnered myself with my photo editor and graphic designer, Paul Gigliello, a really cool and capable guy, who is finishing up his schooling at UNF for graphic design and photography.

I’m also working with a very professional MAC Makeup Artist originally from Miami and making connections everywhere I can in the modeling and fashion industry which is where I really want to make a name for myself!

So far so good!

Hey don’t forget… this has only been over a 5-6 month time period… Everything could still fall apart and fail…. But.. it wont…

Because not only do I know that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life but I have never wanted ANYTHING more in my life, I have never wanted to be so successful with any venture I have tackled.

I will sit back one day and say… "Yea… I did it, and guess what all you people who said it wouldn’t work, that I should get a good and stable job and work my way up the corporate ladder….
Look at me now!"

So keep coming back to see the progress I am making and the obstacles I am having to over come… to make my mark in this world and to get My Studio 212 Photography Studio off the ground and running!