The ‘Perks’pective

“The first time you capture an image and edit it, you feel like you just painted a Picasso. Of course, like many, you suddenly realise this is not the case and you have a hell of a lot to learn…” – interview with Matthew Perks.

Hi Matt! It’s such a pleasure to have you for this interview. Please tell us about your first introduction to photography. Do you remember your first camera?
Hi guys! Thank you so much for having me! My first official introduction to photography came from my grandfather (when I was in my younger years) who has always had a passion for it himself, especially aviation photography. Skipping forward 20 or so years my elder brother was kind enough to hand me his Sony A200 so that I could start to understand the fundamentals of the craft.   

What types of photography were you interested in initially, and why did you decide to do almost exclusively landscape photography?
My reason for picking up a camera was to capture those special moments of my children and surrounding family growing up. I then started to transition to a more landscape photography genre as we adopted a furry little friend who needed to be walked regularly. As I became bored of the same old scenery I started venturing further a field. As photography was so exciting and there was still so much to learn it became apparent that the camera was going to come along with me. A few hundred walks later and here I am! 

How do you always manage to find new subjects, different angles and lighting conditions, to make so many, and such good photographs around Bristol?
Like many, you are, by default, exposed to compositions and areas of the city that have been captured time and time over. It’s almost a right of passage that imitate these compositions and understand what it takes to achieve those kind of shots. Once you’ve established your workflow and your editing technique you suddenly start to look at things a lot differently and searching for something new.