Posts in Category: My Life

I’m Moving to Africa… Yes, Really

Hello photo friends!

It is with mixed emotions that I officially announce that I’m not booking any new work.  I’ve loved these last few years as a photographer, for all that I’ve learned, and most of all, the people that I’ve met along the way.  I think I will always smile when I look back on this stage of my life.

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(My photo radar going off at Inna and Jared’s wedding… photo by Josh Premako)

However, the day has come to move on to bigger and better things.  If you haven’t heard, Rachel and I are moving to Malawi, Southern Africa in about 19 days.  Yes, moving.  Yes, to Africa.  We’re going to be serving at a church in that very needy country.  You can read more about it here.


(That’s NOT me and Rachel… it’s the chief and his wife in Gulule, a village in Malawi I visited in 2007)


(Lake Malawi)


(It’s always a race to see if I can take the picture before there are too many kids to fit in my frame.  The kids won on this one…)


(Fishermen’s children jumping off the boats.  That’s a fishing rod in the background, not a spear… though they have those too.)

The only difficult part is saying goodbye to all the friends I’ve made along the way.  I recognize that my business has grown because my past clients have trusted me and referred me to someone else.  Thank you, each of you, for your support of me and my photography.

But I know I’m leaving you in good hands.  If you need photos in the LA/OC area, I’ve updated my site with a list of photographers I recommend.

What direction will my photography take once I’m in Malawi?  I’m as curious as you are.  The best way to find out is to watch this blog.  You can subscribe to the RSS feed, or sign up to get my latest posts by email.  It might be a while before I figure out how to post photos via the African internet, but when I do, I’ll put them here.

Until then, as they say in Malawi:

Zikomo kwambiri!

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(Photo by Josh Cook)

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The Pacific Coast

To the 2 or 3 of you out there who watch my blog daily to see if I’ve updated it (hi, mom!), you’ve been a little disappointed in the last few weeks.  In preparation for our fast-upcoming move to Africa, Rachel and I have been traveling all over the USA to say goodbye to friends and family.  The last trip took us as far as Canada, through my childhood state of Washington, and some other favorite places in Oregon and California along the way.  The main point of the trip was visiting people, not taking photos, but even passing through those places lent some fun opportunities to stretch our legs and take some photographs…  Enjoy.

Incidentally, I made a few changes to the travel section on my site, too.  Check it out to see some of my latest travel photos, and let me know what you think.  Enjoy!

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Ice…
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See the moon?
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A special shout out to all the people we got to see along the West Coast.  Thanks to all of you for your hospitality and friendship.

And tomorrow we leave for the midwest…

Our Wedding!

Well, for obvious reasons, I haven’t been devoting my full attention to this blog in the last few weeks. But I realize that some of you are itching to see our wedding photos, and don’t know where to find them!

I have become friends with so many talented photographers over the years, it was difficult for Rachel and I to choose who would shoot our wedding! We finally settled on the following:

Joshua Cook did our engagement photos
Josh Premako and Lukas VanDyke shot our wedding.

Click on the links above to see these guys’ work!

Matt & Rachel in the getaway limo

And finally, since some of you weren’t able to make it to the wedding; it was the most incredible day in my entire life.  It had everything I love: beautiful weather, an old church, good food, a challenging message, loving friends, moving music, a smokin’ car, our dear family.  Combine all of that with the unbelievable joy of marrying my very best friend… I don’t think my feet touched the ground all day.

Thanks to each of our photographers for helping capture this fantastic day.

And to Rachel… I love you so so so so much!