About Me (or How I Got Here):
My name is Matthew Moniz and I’m a photographer based in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Like many people I’ve owned a camera in some form or another for most of my life. From Polaroid instamatics to disc film to disposables I have never been a stranger to the shutter release button. It wasn’t until 2006, though, that I realized that a photograph could be more than just a quick auto-focus snap of a family member opening a birthday present.
While traveling with friends to the west coast of Florida a good and talented friend of mine started taking nighttime photographs of a bridge with his brand new digital point-and-shoot. As I watched him I was amazed by the way that the camera interpreted the light and how by changing a few settings he could create a completely different image.
Not long after I found myself on a business trip to Asia. I saw how the skyscrapers lit the night sky with neon lights of every shape, size and color. I pulled out my point-and-shoot and tried to recreate what I had seen my friend do. I very quickly realized just how much I had to learn if I too was going to be able to use this little electronic box to create pieces art.
The engineer in me quickly came to the surface and before I knew it I had surrounded myself with every photography magazine, book and website I could find. I read voraciously. I experimented. I shot photos constantly. I upgraded my equipment. I shot more. I bought my first DSLR. I learned what all the buttons did. I shot more. I started working with RAW files. I hated what I shot. I shot more. I bought more lenses. I shot even more. I loved every second of it.
I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by enormously supportive friends and family. They indulged my early morning trips to off-the-wall places to stand in the same place for 45 minutes trying to get the perfect shot. They offered to sit as models for me so that I could try my hand at portrait photography. They tolerated me walking around their birthday parties with gigantic camera setups taking candid photographs of their guests. They listened to me ramble on and on about gear and composition and far-off locales that no sane person would actually want to travel to.
Many years have passed now since that trip to Florida and these days I find myself focusing almost entirely on landscape photography. I’ve cultivated most of my skills and tailored my gear to that pursuit. In recent years I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with several enormously talented professionals who took me to beautiful locations and showed me new ways to look at compositions. They’ve also shown me how photography can open up a whole new world to those willing to go out and see it. I will never again look at travel the same way as I did before I met them.
When I look back at some of my earlier work it is easy for me to see how much I have learned. At the same time, one of the things that excites me so much about photography is the fact that even after ten years of shooting there is still so much I’ve yet to discover and so much more I can learn. Recently I’ve found myself in the position to be able to start sharing the knowledge I have with others. After so many talented people have shared their wisdom and experience with me so selflessly I can honestly say that the opportunity to do the same is just as exciting to me as shooting.
I can only hope that I continue to have the opportunity to spend time seeing the world and finding new and better ways to capture it in digital form for others to see. Hopefully I’ll see you out there and if you need a dry pair of socks just let me know…I always carry extras!