matthew alexander patton

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Originally posted over at ‘I Love Photo Blogs’.

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Making Music Photography An Art Form, A Profile – Matthew Alexander Patton

“Over the years, music photography has settled into an established art form, with conventions and rules of its own, so when a photographer can come along with a whole new lexicon, it’s time to sit up and take notice. Matt’s pictures somehow take you under the skin of the subject, revealing more than perhaps they thought they were giving away in the first place. And perhaps more importantly, he makes it look DAMN COOL to be in one of the bands he captures.”

Steven Edward Rainey, ‘BBC Introducing’

“I am Matthew Alexander Patton – cheers for the opportunity to promote my work. I try not to take life too seriously, but can often be seen doing so. I wear a crew shirt from the film Alien (the ‘Nostromo’) and a set of pink headphones to the death. For me life is all about the journey – not the destination and so my website is a record of my journey so far.”

“…The ‘Nostromo‘ is simply a concept that embodies all of this in my eyes and is a personal statement on several different levels. It embodies the lonely traveler, the distant land, the epic journey and the vehicle of choice. Each of which respectively represents how I feel about myself, how I see the world, my attitude towards life and finally my work. It is a concise unifying symbol. End of.”

“I am a massive fan of And So I Watch You From Afar, Angels & Airwaves, Bloc Party, Frank Turner, and Sigur Rós.”

“So far my film work has been recognised by BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) via a nomination for a short film award in 2007 and has been screened at the 2008 Cannes (France) and Hayden (USA) film festivals respectively.”

“My photographic work has been published domestically in the United Kingdom in a variety of film, music and photographic publications; and also internationally in Australia & the United States. Publicly I have exhibited work so far in Belfast, (Northern Ireland), Dublin, (Ireland) and Manchester, (England).”

“Companions on this journey are important to me, and so I am currently documenting A Northern Light, Colenso Parade, Kasper Rosa and The Rupture Dogs on their own journeys. Previously I was the photographer for A Plastic Rose.”

“Over the last few years I’ve had the privilege of being involved with music in Northern Ireland via my film and photography work. In particular I have formed a strong attachment with the documentation of bands with as little of an agenda as possible – other than to show them up as I see them through the viewfinder.”

“When I look back through my work and where I’ve been aiming it; it is striking to me how little that we see of the real people behind the music these days – what with the control and limitations placed down by publicists and managers who rarely seem to grasp that the icons of old were part created via the humanizing force of seeing their true faces in many cases. Showing their characters not as a contrived thought but as actual people. As an audience looking in, we connected more with them as people compared to the majority of today’s over polished ideas of image. This situation is something I try to pay as much attention to as possible within what I am doing.”

“Often I find that an Occam like approach to my work is the most effective way to accomplish this, using simplicity and a lack of pretense to create (I hope) a more relaxed atmosphere for the bands I work with. I try to stay away from using lighting setups (being well aware of how waiting around on setups affects actors on set I learned very quickly that most musicians are not naturally settled in front of camera), instead finding positions, natural embellishments, corridors of light or existing fittings to shape the image in a much more leisurely manner.”

“Despite saying that. I love technology, and it was my route into film-making and from that then photography. All of my equipment from camera to laptop I’ve tried to learn inside out (and in many cases self-repaired) to try and get a better grasp of each component’s limitations and uses. Though I can see how the progression of technology can get in the way of a good image, whether it is a young band being physically unnerved by a camera that you could launch a missile from or the technical perfection of the frame coming before actual content – something I have been and can be guilty of myself. Often I’ve personally found that the clear, crisp pictures that make up the bulk of music photographs out there can lack the emotion and life that was present on stage in the first place.”

“Basically and in the shortest possible manner. I love what I do and the people with whom I work and the experiences I’ve had so far, and would say to anyone interested in photography to find exactly what impassions you visually and follow it.”

“Don’t try to be other people, but learn from them. Make what you do, your own.”

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