(3/12/22) Palm Studios
Short Bio
Matthew Carroll is based in Indiana. He grew up living in Latin America and in the UK before his family moved to the United States when he was fourteen. Over the last decade, he has also spent a significant amount of time in Southeast China. These formative life experiences engendered a keen interest in people, their culture, and their constructed surroundings. Through portraiture and landscapes, his work focuses on the daily happenstances of everyday life.
(11/21/21) La Horchata - zine for Central American artists
Submission email
Hello,
My name is Matthew Carroll, and I'm a photographer currently living in Indiana (USA). I was born in Costa Rica and I grew up living in Guatemala City, Guatemala until I was 14, when my family moved to Denver. I now call Indiana home.
My grandmother was Guatemalan and I have a lot of family that still lives in Guatemala. My Latin heritage is a big part of my life and it has shaped who I am as a person. I miss el calor hispano, the food, and being able to see my family and friends. I look forward to going back to visit again soon.
Attached you will find 5 photographs from a long term documentary project about the rural Midwest. My experience of living in different places has led to a fascination with people. This lies at the root of my curiosity about the environments people create for themselves, and how these inform their lives. This project explores the small, quiet, and quotidian narratives of everyday life. It examines the complex intersection that lies between the places we call home and how these shape dreams, personal realities, and expectations.
Website: www.matthewcarroll.com
Instagram: @mdcarroll
(10/14/21) OPE Zine (opezine.com) - zine run by Nathaniel Grann trying to compile work from the Midwest
Short Bio
Matthew Carroll is based in Indiana. He grew up living in Latin America and in the UK before his family moved to the United States when he was fourteen. Over the last decade, he has also spent a significant amount of time in Southeast China. These formative life experiences engendered a keen interest in people, their culture, and their constructed surroundings. Through portraiture and landscapes, his work focuses on the daily happenstances of everyday life.
Project Statement
My experience of living in different places has led to a fascination with people. This lies at the root of my curiosity about the environments people create for themselves, and how these inform their lives. This project explores the small, quiet, and quotidian narratives of everyday life. It examines the complex intersection that lies between the places we call home and how these shape dreams, personal realities, and expectations.
(8/7/21) Humble Arts Foundation: Open Call: Group Show #69 - Photo for non-majors
Short Bio
Matthew Carroll is based in Indiana. He grew up living in Latin America and in the UK before his family moved to the United States when he was fourteen. Over the last decade, he has also spent a significant amount of time in Southeast China. These formative life experiences engendered a keen interest in people, their culture, and their constructed surroundings. Through portraiture and landscapes, his work focuses on the daily happenstances of everyday life.
Tell us about the series you’re submitting
My experience of living in different places has led to a fascination with people. This lies at the root of my curiosity about the environments people create for themselves, and how these inform their lives. This project explores the small, quiet, and quotidian narratives of everyday life. It examines the complex intersection that lies between the places we call home and how these shape dreams, personal realities, and expectations.
Nowhere Diary
What is your backstory?
I grew up living overseas in both Latin America and the UK. We lived in Guatemala for twelve years and we spent two years in Sheffield, England. We moved back to the United States when I was fourteen. I went to high school in Colorado, but I have called Indiana home for twenty years.
I grew up loving sports. My first love was baseball, but when I discovered basketball, I became enamored with the sport. I had the unique experience of playing basketball in college. As far back as I can remember, I always had a passion for anything visual, whether it be a striking painting, a well-conceived photograph, or well-designed architecture. In fact, at one point, I wanted to be an architect. I grew up with an affinity for drawing and being creative, so when I picked up a camera for the first time about 12 years ago, I never looked back. I became interested very early on in photobooks, which I love collecting and learning from. For me, it was a similar experience to what Tod Papageorge describes: “I became a photographer because of books, books of photographs, not because I enjoyed reading about photography, or was an amateur shutterbug. It all had to do with looking at pictures.”
My experience of growing up in different places has led to a fascination and keen interest in people, their culture, and their constructive surroundings. It is through portraiture, landscapes, and architecture, that my work focuses on the daily happenstances of everyday life. I’m currently working on long-term projects in the American Midwest and in Shenzhen, China.
What camera gear/editing setup do you use?
I have always favored handheld cameras. I walk a lot when I photograph, so having a camera that is light and easy to carry is essential to how I work. The camera that I’m currently using is the 5D Mark iii. I use Lightroom for all of my editing.
How do you achieve the look of your photographs and could you take us through the process?
Although I photograph in a variety of places, my overall approach to how I photograph remains the same regardless of where I’m photographing. I work in a rather straightforward manner, whereby I walk or drive until something or someone catches my eye. When something does, I stop and I remain with that subject until I feel I have explored it well. I’m interested in the idea of place and the people that inhabit those spaces, so this is a key driver in my impetus for making photographs. I see the world in black and white when photographing, which also influences how I take in the world when I work.
Could you tell us the backstory of some of your photographs?
I spend a lot of time in rural areas and in small cities when I photograph in the Midwest. On one hot summer day, while photographing in Indiana, I came across this kid fishing (first photograph in this story, above). There was something about him that intrigued me. Although young, he carried a weighty sadness and pain that was palpable. He told me that he was fishing because it was something he and his father used to do together. He loved his father and had fond memories of him, but he, like many in the area, had succumbed to drug addiction. His mother had also become addicted to drugs. Fishing was a place he could find peaceful solace, and it was a way for him to escape the realities of everyday life. He had dreams of joining the army and traveling the world while serving in the military. I took this photo of him while he had paused in a moment of inward reflection. The most rewarding thing about photographing people is the wonderful encounters I have along the way. I’m grateful for these moments.
What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?
What I have found paramount in my own personal journey as a photographer has been seeking ways to continuously grow and learn. Everyone learns differently, but for me, photobooks have been a key element in this growth. I especially like what Gerry Badger wrote: “Walker Evans once said that the best photographic education comes from ‘informal contact with a master’...I learnt more from hanging out with Garry Winogrand in Los Angeles for two or three memorable days in 1980, than from a year of college lectures. I would add that quality time spent with any great photobook might also be classed as ‘informal contact with a master’.” I also believe that seeking the critique of one’s work from photographers you respect can be crucial in understanding what works and what doesn’t.