Early Work

The Millenium Wheel, which opens this series, is the photograph that Matt considers his earliest “keeper”:

”That fateful weekend, I had just come back from a workshop with Leonard Freed, a famous Magnum photographer, and was feeling extremely inspired and tuned in. Walking along the South Bank from Waterloo station, I saw that they were in the process of erecting the Millennium Wheel. I thought this would be a good hunting ground for my newly learned skills. I headed over to Jubilee Gardens on Friday and finished my stakeout on Sunday evening with brief intervals to eat and sleep, but not much more. I think I shot around 12 rolls of film that weekend, which was a lot for me at the time. Most of the rolls didn’t have that much on them, at least nothing to get excited about.

Then on Sunday afternoon, a man rode up on his bicycle to have a look at the spectacle of the big wheel being put into its place. Usually this wouldn’t be something to spark my interest but this man was different; he had a wheel strapped to his back. When he looked up, he made a perfect juxtaposition with the Millennium Wheel. I didn’t see the man’s face; I just shot lots of photographs with my Leica MP as he was looking up. I think I shot a whole roll in the 30 seconds that he stood there. I can still remember my adrenaline rush to this day.

When the film came back, only one shot worked. I hadn’t cropped the saddle of the bike in camera on this one (like all the others). I had exposed it correctly (for the man’s back, not the sky) and it was sharp. Most of my other attempts suffered from my adrenaline spiked hands.

Even to this day, I am immensely proud of this shot, although I sometimes wish I had taken it in colour. It probably wouldn’t have been as direct and as powerful if I had. It is still one of my favourite photographs and it just goes to prove that patience and optimism are often rewarded.”

Black and White Prints