My Blog

Hands in the earth

Hands in the earth.

Feeling for healing, what my homeland must be reeling from. Giving some TLC to some stressed outside and inside plants. I drove home from the desert into an ominous brown cloud of smoke from the wildfires hanging over my hometown here in SoCal. The sky looks clear. The Air Quality Index says it’s safe, but there’s no telling what else might be in the air.

All of this was so bad. I don’t think I can add more than what has already been said, seen, shown…lost. I personally know of three families who lost everything in a single night. I knew, as the Palisades fire broke out while the wind forecast looked incredibly dire, that it was going to be a long and horrible night.

That will forever be known as the day LA burned. Like so many, my heart broke as I could only watch from afar. I could only check the Watch Duty app over and over again, post and send resources on social media. Since I live in a fire-prone area, I’ve been through this so many times myself. So I did everything I could to tell friends what I know from experience. To anticipate the evacuation orders. To be ready. To help those who need the most help as much as you can. I got maybe three hours of sleep that night.

What was no help at all was the barrage of misinformation coming not just from strangers online, but from people I know. One so-called friend who insisted this was the best time to rain down f-bombs and critiques of politicians at me, along with some bizarre rants and misinformation. This was echoing much of the lack of empathy people were seeing online, as if Angelenos somehow deserved this. No one deserved this.

Being from here and having lived through many fires, I can sense some of what is coming. The winds will persist, hopefully not causing any more catastrophe. The containment lines will hopefully hold. The fires will still burn, though much of LA will move on towards business as usual. It will take years for people to rebuild. We will hopefully get one good rain, but then comes the danger of landslides.

So many here need healing. But I have been seeing just how much this giant, sprawling city that’s more than one city has come together. People have opened their homes at a moment’s notice. People have opened their pantries, their hearts, their wallets to help. Donation centers are overrun with supplies. And still people want to help.

This is the real LA. The rest of the country labels us as a town of fakes and phonies, but this is who we really are. It is no shock to me just how much people have come together. There is still so much to do.

Hands in the earth. Feet on the ground.

Weekly: Into 2025

It was a marathon of work, family, and holiday obligations at the end of last year. I’ve come to expect the rush of fall into the holidays, but I’d actually never had a busier fall season. I take none of it for granted, and thankfully I was able to wrap most of it up by mid-December so I could enjoy what I knew would be somewhat truncated holiday season. I barely had time to think about making any sort of content, including updating this blog. I’m currently re-thinking how I’ll approach this website as the year continues. I want this to continue to be a space away from social media algorithms and trends. Many years ago, I consciously chose not to be the guy that simply follows trends. I chose to be as much of the originator of my work as possible. (Even though it really has all been done before.) It’s a much harder path, but long-gaming it has proven to be worth it.

Once Christmas was over I did my usual which was to head out to the desert for New Years Eve with family. The desert, our little escape by the Colorado River in Arizona, is quiet, relaxing, with wide open skies. I enjoy the slower pace out there as much as I can. 

In fact, much of January and February is typically slower for me. I’m hoping to fill that time with much-needed home projects and decluttering.

There’s not much else for me to update here at the moment. I don’t really like recapping the what just happened. I don’t like taking time to reexamine my year and what made it good, bad, or in-between. I don’t have a “best of” list. I don’t feel like I do enough of anything to have a “best of” for anything. I’m an avid reader, but I don’t have stacks of books I can sort into my top ten. I have several fantastic photo clients, but I wouldn’t dare sort them into list. If anything, I’d prefer to stay more present this year. I’ll continue to share my thoughts, photos, and exploits here, but I’d like to spend much of this year fully engaged in the here and now.

See Matt Run: Concert at Mattei’s Tavern

I try to keep this as a space for my thoughts, my ongoings, my projects. A space away from social media algorithms. I try also not to just make this a running list of what I’ve been up to that week, although I’ll admit that is often what I’m on here about. October through December becomes a mixed bag of things. This is when work picks ups steam just in time for the holidays. I actually love the holidays. I love the hustle and the to-do of it all. I love how my small Los Angeles town goes a bit nuts over Halloween and goes all out with the decorations. I usually like to photograph that, so stay tuned…

A few weeks ago, I got called to do photograph an event at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos. It is a historical hotel just north of Santa Barbara, originally built in 1886. The event ended up being a mix of things, but mainly featured a concert performed by Kate Hudson and her band. I wasn’t aware that Kate Hudson could sing or write music, but as is usually the case with these gigs, I love being able to be a part of something interesting and new.

While fun, the shoot day ended up being rather long and exhausting. I slept poorly the night before and was awakened by an earthquake. I had to hit the road very early to make the two-and-a-half hour drive, which was actually pleasant. I worked with a video team to capture several aspects of the day while an October heat wave kept up relentlessly that day. Much of the day revolved around Kate and when she’d arrive for soundcheck and then her performance.

Having grown up around the TV and film industries, I’ve met famous people and have been able to work with a few. From my experience, you never know what to actually expect. Celebrities are regular people with a lot of pressure on them, so it can be a mixed bag. I had been told that Kate was actually great, easygoing, and really fun to work with. I kept an open mind. When she did arrive and perform later that night, the process was easy and fun. I was able to get some really nice shots…in fact, a few of these shots were featured in this Harpers Bazaar article the next day.

By the way, Kate Hudson happens to be quite a great singer/songwriter. Her band was fantastic. I particularly liked her song “Glorious.”

After a very long day in the heat, I had to scramble to get the above shots to her for approval. This wasn’t exactly ideal, since I like to take time for such things. But again, Kate was really awesome to work with and made the extra effort worth it. I’m not someone who makes it a point to fawn over celebrities, but when someone exudes actual star qualities it makes you feel uplifted, like you want to keep doing better work. I hope to have some of those qualities myself.

A start to my busy season

Life has been pretty busy, in both good and bad ways, since I last posted.

Fire season continues to wreak havoc on the landscape here. Thankfully, our home has been spared from any imminent wildfire threat. Unfortunately, the Line Fire has begun to advance once again toward my childhood summer camp. Camp de Benneville Pines is incredible special to me. All I can do is keep watching the updated maps on the Watch Duty app. The fire is climbing up steep mountain terrain, which makes it near impossible to fight. I can only hope for the best.

On the lighter side of things, both photography and music have kept me busy over the last several weeks. I took part in a reunion concert for the high school theatre department in my hometown of Claremont. This was originally a small reunion concert for the class of ’74, but turned into a full-blown fundraiser for the current students of the theatre department at Claremont High School. This was also a memorial for Dr. Don Freuchte, who was a huge figure in creating the theatre department and had just recently passed.

I was really lucky back in high school. I had always had an interest in the arts, but I was all over the place as a kid. I had was too much excess energy, a need to fit in even though I was the quintessential outsider, and I was just an overall weird kid. It was in the theatre department where I found not only my voice, but I found a place to channel all that energy. And thanks to my teacher, Krista Carson-Elhai (Dr. Fruechte’s successor), I was given many chances to succeed. You couldn’t get me out of that building.

I’m dead center, dressed in a gold sailor suit, for the 42nd Street ballet. June, 1999.

It was a great time meeting and connecting to older CHS Theatre Alumni. I got to reunite with two of “co-stars” from way back when, Craig and Amanda. We three lead the cast of 42nd Street, a giant production with massive scenery, costumes, and we painstakingly learned the original Broadway tap choreography. It was a fun experience reliving that, and truly refreshing to slip back into a chemistry with my fellow performers as if no time had ever passed since we were last onstage together. The one downside is that these one-off concerts like this are over so soon.

Me, Carolina Garcia, Jefferey Deards, Amanda Coclough, Craig Coclough. My fellow theatre alumni, all grown up!

The very next weekend, I was able to perform once again with The Singers of Soul, a gospel, pop, and soul choir I’ve been a part of since 2019. Being able to sing with them is an incredible treat for me. Back in 2019, my friend Carolina (shown above) was creating a solo cabaret and had asked me to sing a duet with her. I was thrilled to say yes, and then she asked me to join a group number to close the show featuring a choir which ended up being The Singers of Soul. In that moment I was nothing short of blown away but the talent in one group, and I’ve been lucky to sing with them several times since.

In between singing, I’ve been jumping straight into my busy season as an event photographer, staring off with a marathon of clients including NBSO LA, and Segerstrom Center for the Arts. I have more in the pipeline. At the moment, I’m hoping the current heatwave in LA calms down along with these wildfires.

This Fire Season

I must have been sensing something because not long after my last post the Bridge Fire began burning in the hills directly near my home. I’m no stranger to fire season, though I don’t remember them being this bad when I was a kid. I’ve watched the hillsides near me burn, then renew, then burn again a few times over the years. I was even evacuated once in the middle of the night with three very confused dogs. I was genuinely optimistic about this fire as it started since it was in relative close proximity to the two fire stations nearby. Much has changed in SoCal fire defense of the last few decades, so I thought they would nip it pretty quickly.

Our local fire department acted quickly and communicated constantly for the first few days, even posting a video to social media illustrating how they kept the fire from reaching our homes and structures. Our home was spared, but the fire then began to act aggressively and spread fast to mountain communities to the north and east. Thanks to technology and ongoing communication, I didn’t panic too much as large smoke columns filled the sky.

As I write this, the fire has grown past 50,000 acres and is minimally contained with the area closest to us being classified as contained. Several mountain communities have been devastated and my heart hurts for them. I’m also currently currently worried about another wildfire, the Line Fire which has spread dangerously close to my childhood summer camp. Just four years ago, the El Dorado Fire had actually entered the same camp and was saved by firefighters already there.

It’s in situations like these where, not too long ago, I would’ve thought “grab a camera and go document.” And certainly I could go document from certain vantage points. But honestly it’s not always a great idea. The air quality is bad, and the last thing firefighters and emergencies workers need are more cars clogging up roadsides near the blaze, most of which are closed to begin with. There are photographers who specialize in these situations, even photographers who seek out storms, tornadoes, and fires on purpose. As of yet, I’m not one of those photographers.

End of summer, hot fall

Like most Southern Californians, I’ve spend the last week dealing with oppressive heat. We somehow always forget that as the light begins to tilt slightly and the days shorten, suddenly it becomes unbearably hot around here. And it can stay hot into October or November. A few years ago, I planted pretty pink hyacinth in the backyard hoping for a spring bloom. They now regularly begin to emerge in November, long before the spring and sit there awkwardly as the colder months approach. A few of the plants I started way back in June are in a sort of delayed adulthood. My sunflowers live in containers and are just now starting to bloom while also being endlessly thirsty.

A few of my potted sunflowers struggling to open in this heat.

A few watering hacks for fellow gardeners with thirsty plants:

Keep a bucket of water in the sink for when you rinse produce or your hands. The excess water is perfectly fine for watering plants outside. Plus, you pay for that water so you might as well get the most out of it.

I’ve used a product called SoilMoist for a few years now. It’s a polymer that expands when watered to provide an extra supply of water when needed. Although, in this heat I’m sure it’s much needed. It says it’s safe for vegetables, but I only used it for non-edibles.

Another hack I used are terracotta watering spikes. Terracotta is porous clay and once these spikes are inserted in the soil, you can invert a glass bottle filled with water (gently, please) and the water will slowly seep through the terracotta into the thirsty soil.

I’ve written on this before, but the book I recommend for all California green thumbs is 52 Weeks in the California Garden. This book changed how I approached all of my outdoor projects with the main planting season starting in September. Fall is our spring here and the most advantageous for good results year round. I should post more updates on my gardening projects in the future.

I get a little wistful writing about the end of summer, even with the extended blazing heat. For Labor Day, I drove once again to the desert house out on the Colorado River to spend time with my aunts, uncles, and baby cousins. Talk about heat. It was about 111 degrees on regular days, most of which we spent splashing around in the water and always with a cooler full of beer and soda water nearby.

I hardly had time to take pictures or anything like that because I was mostly on guncle duty to seven-year-old twins. Besides the aforementioned time playing in the water, activities included: word searches, activity book mazes, putting together a 500 -piece jigsaw puzzle (didn’t finish), and I got to introduce them to Mad Libs. Alas, that was the last family occasion of the summer, though I may be able to squeeze a few more trips in during the warm months. That’s the good thing about the desert house being so close…

…and by close, I mean about a four-hour drive from where I live. Tell that to any Angeleno and they’d probably fly into a tizzy. Palm Springs is about as far away as most LA people can stand. While the four-hour drive doesn’t really bother me, I do fill the time with either podcasts or audiobooks. My selections this time around:

”I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Janette McCurdy – listened to on the Libby app (free library books, y’all). The title is outrageous, but earned in this memoir on the author’s life as a child actor and Nickelodeon star, her fraught relationship with her mother, and dealing with eating disorders and alcohol abuse. I was already aged out Nickelodeon during the iCarly era, but like many I so wanted to be a teen TV star like her. Many years later, so many millennials are starting to come to terms with what this meant for the child stars themselves.

The podcast Weird Medieval Guys did a four-parter on the Hundred Years War. I’m not sure how I got started listening to this podcast, but I appreciated the deep dive into this. Like anything historical, it just makes you want to dive in even deeper, especially into the enigmatic life of Joan of Arc.

Onward to a very hot fall, and what is shaping to be a busy work season for me.

Part of the cityscape

I’m spending the week housesitting in LA. After many years in the burbs, being back in the mix feels a bit like whiplash. It’s not like I’m never here. I grew up in SoCal, grew up in an around the TV industry. When I was 12, I took my first solo train ride on the Metrolink to Union Station in Downtown LA (I was meeting my stepdad, and parents allowed their kids to do stuff like that back then). And I lived in West Hollywood for several years. I’m always working events in and around this vast urban sprawl. And yet…LA feels rougher now. While driving in LA has always been an exercise in chaos, drivers now seem to be at least 20 percent worse. Running a few basic errands means navigating a maze of reckless or absent-minded drivers, parking in an overcrowded lot, then having to flag down store employees to retrieve basic items encased behind plexiglass. City-dwellers seemed to have never recovered a sense of spacial awareness. And there’s definitely a new crop of showbiz hopefuls, younger and having come of age during pandemic lockdowns. All while the entertainment industry is still reeling from two major strikes.

And we’re hosting the Olympics soon…

My Photos app brought up a collage of different cityscapes I’ve shot of LA over the years. From Griffith Observatory, Runyon Canyon, the Hollywood Hills. Some are smoggy and sun-soaked. Some are a glittery nighttime urban landscape. They all remind me of the millions of dreamers dreaming hard in those cramped streets and apartments. I’ve dreamed just as hard as all of them, and some of my dreams definitely needed more time to cook. And spend any amount of time here and you’ll see just how many broken dreams there are. Disappointments, rejections, many horror stories of people who now find they have nowhere else to go, much less dream of. There is a lot of a magic here, but there is also a lot of need.

I had another blog post I was going to publish. A despite knowing that very few people actually read these, I decided it was maybe a bit too cynical. Who knows, maybe I’ll post it eventually. But the gist of it was about the many people come here and eventually leave with those broken dreams. They return to wherever they left from, and offer one maxim to anyone who asks: “LA is garbage.”

Okay, sure. LA is garbage. It’s garbage to people who came here expecting everyone who was already here to make their dreams of fame, stardom, and wealth come true. LA is garbage if you only associates with fellow social climbers, star f***ers, and sleazebags trying to take advantage of you. LA is garbage if you never seeks to learn about the culture, climate, and history that was here long before you arrived. Not many people ask, but if someone were to ask me how they should go about moving to LA, my advice is often simply: Don’t move here. Seek out a medium-sized city where you can gain experience, training, social media followers before you even consider moving here. I’m one of the lucky ones in that my family and my entire support system is already here. But if you come here with nothing but a suitcase and dream, you’re just another car on the 405. And is that how you want to spend your youth?

Fine, it’s frustrating here. As my brother likes to put it, it’s the best place to live and the worst place to live. It seems always to be the best of times and the worst of times. Billionaires and the unhoused with literal TVs playing inside their roadside tents. Hellish heat and biblical level rain storms. “Free”ways that are no longer free. It sometimes takes some squinting to see what makes Los Angeles so great. Again, I’m one of the lucky ones who gets to see it when LA really gets it right. I saw my late stepdad work harder than anyone else in the television industry and be able to rise to about as far as one could go. I’m becoming a lot more like him, knowing these freeways and off-ramps like a map on my hand. Enmeshing myself across this town, and becoming part of the landscape like he did. Part of the cityscape.

Summer: Oversized, hot, lazy

My big tush is made for hiking, dancing, being at photo sessions. After a weekend away in the desert, I’m dragging myself back to work mode. How easy I forget that the job of a freelance artist is mainly in front of a computer screen.

I’ll also admit that reaching to find inspiration in these dog days often involves me arguing with myself. “Do I have to? It’s way too hot! I’m already sweating my SPF off!” The sun shines a bit too brightly on everything midday. My neck is burning. Those eternally classic images I’m trying to find seem to elude me because everything and everyone looks hot and moist.

An oversized beet at the OC Fair.

This time of year is usually the slowest for me. My regular client are usually off on vacation, or otherwise out-of-office (OOO). And yet, the summer weeks are drawing to a close and it’s time to answer emails. The busy part of business calls.

The bloom spike on the agave in my front yard towering above at nearly 30 feet.

Much like myself when I’m in the desert, I want to remain lazy. The emails can wait, right? Not in my business, and certainly not at the point in my career. Despite being at this photography thing for awhile now, I’m still in the establishing phase. I’m still laying the solid foundation that keeps me solid as a build and grow. Laziness need not apply.

Overflowing bounty at the farmer’s market.

I’m holding on to the last bits of summer. In SoCal, we know the heat will last well into September, October, even past Thanksgiving and into Christmas. Before I know it, the time changes back to Standard Time and that’s when things get really tough for my mood and overall motivation. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

August 4 – Planting basil, OC County Fair, summer cooking

These long, hot summer days. No matter how much prepare, I sweat through my clothes and off the serums and sunscreen I paid decent money for. In my house, we’re frugal with the AC. So for a few days, when the heat wasn’t quite as brutal, we flung all the windows open and enjoyed the warm breeze for what it was. Eventually, though, I gave in as the days once again became unbearable. And, no matter how careful I am, at least once mosquito manages to get inside the house and wreak havoc on my ankles.

A project: I managed to assemble the beautiful cedar garden planter I got for my birthday. It only took a few dozen bolts, nuts, and some patience. I was able to get it done in an hour. The next day, I filled it with soil and different varieties of basil, which are hanging in alright in their sunny spot. I worry they might perish if I happen to leave down. The risk one takes in garden. Vigilance is key, but so is being willing to walk away when needed.

Slightly related to gardening, I visited the Orange County Fair with my dad and my brother. I hadn’t been in ages, and didn’t remember quite what it was like. And since I had gotten so used to working the LA County Fair, I was surprised to see just how small the OC Fair is in comparison. The Pomona Fairplex is truly a giant and nearly impossible to take in all in one day. I’m partial to the LA Fair, but I will say the OC Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa make for an easier walking experience.

Cooking:

I’m trying to remember to take more photos of what I’ve been cooking at home lately.

Here is a vegan potpie. Very simple, no recipe, but full of vegetables I had in the freezer and topped with a drop biscuit recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. (This book is a staple in my kitchen, especially during holiday baking.)

Everything tastes better in vintage blue cornflower Corningware.

Right around now is where I can sense the light changing, even though I know we’re in for a few more months of intense California heat. I feel it, too, as I begin to gear up or what is normally by busy season in event photography.