Today we’d like to introduce you to Vince Matta
Vince, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’d say about half my life I’ve been “on-again, off-again” with quite a few different hobbies. Photography being one of them. I’d pick up a camera, play with it for 6 months, sell it, and buy another one, three or four years later. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
The one constant through all this time was my passion and enjoyment for cars. Specifically, when I’d purchase a camera, I’d take it car shows and I’d photograph cars. Time and time again I just never quite stuck with it and never really made anything of value out of it.
Almost 2 years ago, I purchased a camera, not quite knowing that I think this will be the last time; thankfully. Car’s and camera’s finally merged in a big way for me. I started back into Car Photography just kind of doing what most everyone else was doing in this arena. After a few shoots I kind of found myself getting bored with it again. I needed another way to make car photography fun and exciting. I needed to keep myself interested.
Enter strobe and light painting. My bread and butter if you wish. My work began to look different, and it was more technologically enjoyable to me as well (big nerd). I was finally able to learn things I wasn’t learning beforehand, or hadn’t already known. The creation in camera, and the post processing of my work was becoming more active, and creative. I was finally creating work that was heading in the direction of what I’ve seen all those years, from truly great car photographers, who kept inspiring me to go out and buy that next camera.
It’s funny though, because after all of this, I can’t say I owe any of my current photography to any one camera purchase at all. Instead, I owe it to $6 LED Light Tube I bought at Walmart. It kept me interested in car photography long enough to be where I am today. Weird how those things work out.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say smooth, but I wouldn’t say particularly difficult either. I’ve simply taken this one step; or in my case, one photoshoot at a time. Learning and growing, each and every time.
The biggest struggle I’ve faced, has always been the misunderstanding of what exactly I do as an automotive photographer. “So you take photos of cars?” Conveying this, to potential clients both commercially and privately has not been an easy task at all.
It’s all too often you meet someone or hear about someone that believes great photography is just pushing a button on a camera and “viola!” You now have this incredible photograph. In the automotive arena of photography, and of course my own work, this simply could not be further from the truth.
It’s been an uphill battle mainly due to this. The images themselves are quite a difficult thing to accomplish in their own right, but nothing has been harder than helping people understand the work and my services in general.
Alas, I wouldn’t trade it. The clientele I’ve met and the work I’ve created in spite of the struggle, has sure been a wonderful journey thus far.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I photograph cars, motorcycles, trucks; anything with wheels that can move you. My specialization and what I’m known for in this arena of photography is something I formally call Composite Photography.
Avoiding my urge to be a bit philosophical here; automobiles are often excessively large and complex objects. They have tons of varying angles and shapes and they’re often made up of extremely reflective materials. This can often make them equally complex to photograph well. As a photographer, I have the job of combating these perfect imperfections, and I have to do this over the entirety of a 3,600 pound Ford Mustang for example.
With that said, this is why I often like to say “I don’t take photos, I build them.” The majority of my work is comprised of many images taken in a single composition. Mainly to combat the issues that car’s inherently create. You’ll often see me sculpting the lines of a car with a powerful strobe or continuous lighting, when the sun cannot. I’ll often light specific areas of the car to prevent them from being lost in darkness or provide a specific highlight to the vehicle. I’ll combat reflections, once again with light and filters to minimize distracting elements in the paintwork of a vehicle. These are all workflows and knowledge that just go above and beyond conventional photography, to really elevate the work to that next level.
With all this data of that one singular photograph in hand, I can these take these home, and begin combining this information into one photograph. Taking bits and pieces I admire from each photograph, I can truly fine tune the final product in a manner you could not do otherwise. Some of these singular photos can often take 3+ hours to shoot and create.
I believe this incredible attention to detail, and attention to this enhanced workflow is what sets me apart from other automotive photographers in the area. I’m pleased to offer a service and an experience in Knoxville, TN that truly comes as close to authentic commercial automotive photography as my current abilities can allow.
Without hesitation, my proudest moment was my nomination for one of nine-teen finalist spots in the Eighth Annual 2024 Toyo Tires Shutterspace Automotive Photography Contest. Toyo generously puts this competition on for US Automotive Photographers. It was truly an honor to have been chosen and I’m alongside some incredibly great company. It was really an honor to fly out to Los Angeles and stand with my work, shoulder to shoulder with other incredible automotive photographers. Some of which, already working at the highest levels in the industry. It was quite an underdog story for me.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in quite a small town in North East, Pennsylvania. My high school graduating class had 60 people. That’s just the metric I rate small towns on!
Few people know this, but on top of my love for sports, cars, and technology, I genuinely was a very creative person growing up. I remember, often laying on the living room carpet drawing my favorite Marvel character, or drawing the occasional comic at my desk in school. I drew a lot growing up. Pretty much all the way into high school.
Unfortunately, after the schools inevitably shoehorn you into a STEM program (this was the 2000’s), the urge for creativity usually goes away. Eventually I found it again though. It does come back. You just have to find the right outlet. Maybe the photography and the work I do is just me trying to be that kid drawing again.
None the less it’s a solid creative outlet and I’m thankful for it. Once again I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to do this here in Knoxville as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattaworxphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattaworxphotography
