My favorite moment after working on a project or film is that first 5 minute conversation you have at a gallery or film fest where you’re just exhausted from the project, exhilarated that its been done and seen and then…”what are you doing next?” I have found in this industry of stop and go projects and odd beginning and end times, its best to stoke a few fires at the same time.  I find as one project is stalled or stops for a while, I can shift my attention to shooting some stills of a cemetery or write something or continue with this or that. So as of now, if you’re reading and caring… I have a script I’ve completed, that I’m beginning rewrites of, now that the site is up, applying to magazines all over the country for editorial travel assignments, I’m desperate to have my passport stamped again! I’m currently beginning a series of film and movie sets location photos for a travel series I’m working on about Alfred Hitchcock. And the films he shot in northern California. And I am currently working with a great musician named Daniel Laskowski. Dan has just finished his debut CD, working with Mooka Renick and his Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati. Mooka has produced albums with Tom Waits, The Grateful Dead, etc. Dan’s a great singer songwriter and I’ve loved shooting him in the recording studio, working with his band, and soon, we are shooting his first music video.  I’m really excited about this project and will keep you updated as it progresses. Keep checking back for new pics and new works! Looking forward to your comments and feedback! Thanks!

So here it finally is…the new and improved Matthew Whitley Photography Website!  I hope you enjoy the galleries and films. As I have been making the transition from film to digital (R.I.P. my beloved Agfa and their gorgeous SCALA film) and navigating whatever we are calling our economy these days, I have decided instead to make this an opportunity to re-invent and reorganize myself and my business. So after some sound prodding by a wonderful group of friends, I am rebooting and re-launching my site with more galleries, a market area to purchase original prints, a space to screen my films and to create an interactive dialogue using all the new social media that makes it far easier to reach out to friends and clients and other artists. I will be using this site to also introduce new ideas, new works, new films, and writings and will also feature artists whose work I totally love.  Creating art the past 20 years, traveling, seeing the world through a lens, it’s the ultimate voyeurism. As much as its occupants can drive me nuts, this home, we call earth, has a profound beauty, amazing light, and hits our senses on every level. As a photographer I can only hope to, at best, recreate the kind of magic that naturally occurs in our lives; I hope to do likewise with my writing. The French filmmaker Goddard wrote, to paraphrase, that whether we are shooting a narrative work of fiction or a documentary, the two always cross over. There are always elements of the other in each. As a photographer and filmmaker, I know that just by lifting the camera up and recording there’s an inherent element of artifice to shooting. But whether it’s a wedding, a building, a model in couture, or a film. I try to approach the work with honesty, to reveal something beautiful and truthful, even in an artificial setting, like a film set, and of course, chasing after the best possible light source!