Inspiration Feeder: Matsu

Our “Inspiration Feeder” presents to you short interviews with interesting visual artists from around the globe. Today in focus: Matsu.

How old are you?

I am 34 years old.

Where do you come from?

My father is Jamaican, and my mother is Australian. I was born and live in Perth, Australia.

How long have you been doing photography?

I am a self-taught photographer and I have been shooting for 8yrs. I started out shooting live shows at small bars, shooting headshots for friends and it quickly consumed my life.

How would you define your style?

Hahaha it’s always hard to define self but I will try. I would describe my style as flexible, light focused, cinematic, and rich yet minimal with a strong emphasis on colours. I love light; the way it can transform a simple location, moment or person into something more is what I live for. I also like busy textured frames that still have a sense of focus and subject, peace in the chaos. Where possible, I do enjoy mixing my style up by adding surrealist elements to my work and experimenting with colour.

How long do you think it took you to find your personal style of shooting?

I took me about six years to get comfortable expressing myself as a photographer. Though I think this is different for everyone, I believe creativity is a never-ending personal journey and if you accept the challenge of its path you will find yourself. I have always looked at my style as a reflection of who I am, and over time I get better at expressing myself via images. I also work as a commercial director and spend a lot of time researching, looking at images, listening to music, reading, and watching movies. Through all this study, I learnt that if I fuel my passion, it seems to come out through my work naturally. If you broaden the colours of your palette, you will learn to understand colours and then learn to understand your colours.

What would you say is the thing that most inspires you? / What is your main source of inspiration?

I draw influences from a lot of different places outside of photography. I’m quite a spiritual person and draw heavily from my practice of Falun Dafa. Pursuing a rich spiritual faith has taught me to see the world differently, rather than looking at the world just as it is. Falun Dafa reintroduced me to that childlike wonder of what lies over the horizon, around the corner or just out of sight. I would rather belive in the unseen than trap myself in with what little I know about existence. Life is more exciting If you believe dragons hide in the clouds.

I am also a big fan of movies and directors like Andrei Tarkovsky, Stanely Kubrick, Ridley Scott and Terrence Malick are some of my favourites. The craft, beauty and scale of their works are super inspiring. I am currently reading about Tarovsky and studying his films.