Photography Speaker (2016)
I have always had an attraction to the water and the tricks it plays on light for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of my brother and I snorkelling on family holidays to France and the Mediterranean Sea. I can clearly remember my first experience of watching shafts of sunlight weave and dance down into the deep blue, carved by the rippling ocean surface.
I bought my first film SLR camera in my teens to try and capture what I loved to see and I used it to shoot the coastlines of my home country of the United Kingdom. It wasn’t long before my curiosity and appetite for shooting the ocean meant I would have to get in and shoot underwater, so I saved and bought a waterproof housing for my camera so I could explore further.
As my photography skills grew I needed to travel more to get the images I imagined, so trips abroad to far off countries followed. Now residing in NSW Australia after emigrating from the UK in 2007 I have the worlds biggest playground at my feet, the Pacific Ocean….. And I have truly fallen in love with it.
For me one of the most wondrous parts of any dive is the moment that the water engulfs my mask as my head slips below the surface. I think it’s the suspense of the unknown of what lies beneath, the transitional part of moving from one element to the next that feels so magical and the thought of what alien creatures I might encounter.
I really enjoy and also feel it’s very important to show people the treasures we have in our oceans, how fragile they are and the importance of protecting them. I like to use my skills as an underwater photographer to try to amaze and educate.
Matty’s work has been exhibited all around the world from the London Natural History Museum in the UK to the Australian Museum in Sydney. He speaks publicly about his style and approach and is staff photographer for Ocean Geographic Magazine and a Nikon Australia and Aquatica Digital brand ambassador.
Matty Smith’s portfolio “A Parallel Universe: Windows Beneath the Waves” is a selection of his favourite and most successful images taken half over and half under the water. This collection has won him several highly acclaimed international awards from the BBC & National Geographic among many others and worldwide recognition of his unique signature style.
Matty’s work has been used and published by The BBC’s Blue Planet 2 Documentary, National Geographic, Ocean Geographic, BBC Wildlife Magazine, GEO, The Washington Post, The Australian and The Guardian amongst many others, as well as featured in TV appearances on The Discovery Channel, Channel 9 (Australia) and Channel 7 (Australia).
