Matt Brass – The line between street and documentary photography

Matt has worked as a creative nearly his entire professional career. He started as a visual designer but by the end of his 20-year tenure in that field his focus and expertise had shifted toward language and narrative. It’s no surprise that he ended up in the creative industry in that his parents were both artists and continue to create to this dav.

Though from a family of modest means Matt was always supplied with instruction and professional level art supplies. His father was both a painter and a writer, but Matt’s early interests were, like his mother, entirely visual. She is an accomplished artist to this day. Having studied under Xavier Ironsides in her youth and heavily influenced by the work of Andrew Wyeth throughout her life, she has a solid command of form and composition and is an absolute master of the use light, shadow and texture.

Matt’s formal training was initally in the area of theology. After a brief stint as a chaplain and teacher, however, he decided to pursue a degree in visual communications that evolved into a career in advertising. For multiple reasons does not consider his work in theology to have been a waste of time. In addition to applying the knowledge gained to his own spiritual journey it served to shape his creative vision as well. It’s his belief that the essence of true art is, fundamentally, the essence of humanity. and that human nature is most clearly revealed in its search for the divine.

Currently he owns a small company that creates destination art for retailers across the United States. And while he enjoys his work as a small business owner and illustrator he continues to pursue photography as a deeper from of creative expression. His photographic work has been featured on multiple occasions in Street Photographer Magazine and a piece he did for National Parks Magazine won awards from both the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association.

A Selection of Matt’s Street Photos

Links from the show

• Matt’s photography website
• Smoky Outfitters – Matt’s business website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• AbeBooks
• Resurrection City, 1968 by Jill Freedman
• The Unseen Saul Leiter 
• Gordon Parks: Segregation Story
• The Candid Frame Interview with David Ulrich
• The Mindful Photographer by David Ulrich