Matthew Jordan Smith

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20 hours ago

2012 Election Year Photo Contest

What does the future have in store for us?  Will Facebook stock be $90.00 a share by the election or down to $9.00 a share?  The next six months promises to be filled with events that will shape our lives and history forever.  Often times, during these events we don't realize we are witnessing historic moments until we look back years later.  In November, the United [...]

2 days ago

Creating The New Family Portrait

Recently I was hired to photograph a family for a Father's Day story.  The magazine wanted to photograph fathers with their children for the June issue, which comes out in May. I was excited about the assignment and started right away doing my research.  My subject, actor Michael Jai White, I knew was a martial arts expert from watching many of his movies over the year's.  Research [...]

3 days ago

The Joy Of Winning A Photo Contest

This year Sony and Billboard Magazine held a really amazing photo contest.  Two winners were selected based on their photography and each received a Sony NEX-5n camera.  They also received two round trip tickets each to Vegas to attend the Billboard Music Awards and after party, plus a morning photo lesson with me and the chance to hang with me on the red carpet and try their hand at [...]

1 week ago

Butterflies in Motion

What inspires you as a photographer?  What made you take your last photograph?  Personal projects have always driven me.  They may or may not lead to work, but that’s not reason to create personal work.  The photographs you make for yourself have a deeper meaning than just work as they express how you feel. I currently have two projects I am working on at this time. [...]

2 weeks ago

What Moves You?

Last Friday I asked my twitter followers to let me know how I can help them become better photographers.  The first question I received was a powerful one.  "How do I learn how to make photographs that move me at the deepest possible level?"  My reply had to be brief on Twitter, but I want to expand on this subject today. Times are hard and many photographers are focused on making a [...]

4 weeks ago

To Tether or Not

On most commercial photo shoots the photographer needs to tether their camera to a computer monitor, which allows the client to see the image the moment it's taken.  Tethering our cameras became the norm when digital invaded photography and client's yearned to see the image the moment it was taken.   The tethering approach has its ups and downs for photographers, and while tethering the [...]

1 month ago

How To Become A Successful Photographer

This weekend APA conducted a two-day workshop aimed at teaching the next generation of photographers how to start their careers as a photo assistant.  The workshop took place in Los Angeles and was very well attended.   It was sponsored by Sony and Profoto and we had a wonderful time learning together. New York photographer, Tony Gale led the workshop and I was elated to be one of the [...]

1 month ago

How to Frame Your Pictures

      Today everyone has the ability to take a great picture.  Ten years ago you needed to carry a traditional camera to do this, but today the average consumer uses a phone as their camera of choice.  Whether your a professional photographer with an expensive, high-end camera or someone with a smart phone who loves sharing moments of your life, how we frame our images [...]

1 month ago

One Light Portraits

When I was seventeen I wanted every lens and light I could find.  I thought, if I only had one more lens or one more light I could do so much more.  I thought my photographs would be better if I simple had more.  I'm not sure when I snapped out of that mind-frame but I'm glad I finally saw the light, no pun intended. Today, I often speak about the "power of less" in photography. [...]

1 month ago

Is it Stealing?

Yesterday I read a post by one of my friends, Tim Grey on "borrowing ideas".  As I read the post I thought about the many times people have copied images of mine.  I'm pretty open to sharing how I photograph images, including the lights, camera, settings, etc.  To me it's not such a big deal if someone tries to copy an image of mine.  It's more important that they learn the [...]

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