About Matt:

           I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember, felt its ability to capture people, places, beauty and ugliness.  Until I acquired my first digital SLR camera in 2006, I was primarily a consumer. At the time my aspirations were still unclear but I found myself increasingly drawn to the worn, isolated, and abandoned places I encountered on driving trips or walking in towns, places that were subject to demolition, or renovation.  What began for me as isolated, almost accidental rambles, evolved into intentional searches: long, mindful drives on narrow New England roads, exploration of bypassed blue highways and side roads in the West, actively seeking out abandoned mills and factories, searching on foot and online for older, ungentrified streets and forlorn places in towns, cities, and suburbs.  These places spoke to me of history, loss, and transition.  They have gained the sort of patina that comes from time’s passage. 

         In my photographic pursuits, I’ve found myself lying face up in gritty buildings, walking on less-then-stable floors, catching the last daylight from the broken windows, finding ways to peer inside spaces when entry is impossible, pushing the limits of my camera.  In abandoned factories, I felt the presence of the workers who once toiled for long hours, saw the rusting machinery they commanded, the notes they scrawled on the walls, the footworn floorboards.  A found house might contain the letters, or phonograph records, or stick-on labels, pieces of discarded clothing, the worn chair of a departed owner.   Urban zones yielded hand-painted storefronts and lovingly made, but homespun repairs.  In these “haunted” places, people no longer had voices, but what remained spoke for them, and to me.  

There is, of course, an undeniable, heart-stopping excitement from finding a new and forbidden site.  I’ve turned corners in hallways and found myself breathless from what was before my eyes – gigantic machines, floors full of threatening holes, cavernous rooms full of light from green side windows.  

I’ve found that my photography and I have evolved together — while my work is still documentary at its core, I can create images that are able to draw viewers into my languishing spaces, evoking their history and their sad, muted, tranquil beauty.  It is an ongoing thrill to be able to share my vision with wider audiences. 

Instagram: matt.temple_photos