Fine Art nominee

My images are tableaus featuring animals in dramatic poses, interacting in an anthropomorphic manner. My work is a visualisation of how nature lives in my imagination and how it affects me emotionally. My images are not a clear report of events, but rather the story that you might recount to your friend; a poetic and rousing account full of emotion, exaggerations and embellishments…and all the more beautiful for it.

The image is built of multiple elements all photographed separately and composed using both modern techniques as well as those used successfully by artists for hundreds of years.

Matthew is a photographer whose work focuses on the natural world and aims to create a sense of wonder and curiosity.

He spent the first 18 years of his life living in Afghanistan, Kenya, India, and Thailand, so it is no wonder that his themes often reflect the topical animals and vegetation that he was surrounded by during his formative years.

Matthew studied design at Brunel University before choosing photography as an instrument to express his creative ideas. He spent two and a half years working for and being mentored by world-renowned animal photographer and artist Tim Flach.

Matthew’s inspiration comes from 19th-century natural history illustrators as well as old master painters. His bookcase overflows with reference material from the high Renaissance through to modern-day artists. He uses rules of composition from Rubens, Chiaroscuro from Caravaggio, and the feeling of lush vegetation from Rousseau.

Images from his current project 'The Life of Birds' are currently being exhibited in the Dong Gang Museum of Photography (Korea) and will be exhibited in Sydney at the Head On Photo Festival in November 2023.