In this conversation Matt shares what connection means to him. The connection he builds with his clients, teams, and the people that he works with. We also talk through first impressions, some of the incredible places his journey as photographer has taken him including the AMANZOE in Greece and how telling stories about the ocean lead to creating Ocean Culture Life, global community of ocean lovers, photographers, filmmakers and conservationists. We round out the conversation with how he stays connected with himself to be an effective storyteller and how he is helping other photographers find their purpose as storytellers with his new course.
Connect with Matt: Instagram | Website
Transcription of the conversation:
Maya: Welcome to What You See, Is What You Get! My name is Maya Jain, and I am your host! I am the founder of Tyrian Purple Consulting, where we work with event service providers to grow their sales through meaningful connection and collaboration.
What You See, Is What You Get, is a series of conversations with extraordinary entrepreneurs, heart driven event pros, and sensational creatives, who I know, and have the pleasure and privilege of working wit. These interviews revolve around the importance of connecting authentically and purposefully, and how it leads to personal growth and business success. My wish is that with access to these insights, you too will grow, learn, and benefit from creating meaningful connections and partnerships.
Welcome to another episode of what you see is what you get – growth through meaningful connection. Today, my guest is Matt Porteous, the award-winning Royal Photographer, who has during his 12 years career, gained a world-class reputation in exquisite documentary style wedding photography. You may have seen Matt’s works splashed across the pages of some of the world’s most well-known magazines for some of very well-known celebrities. But what I love about Matt is his desire to genuinely connect with his clients, with the people he works with, with his team, and just people in general, he has such a great love for people. I’m excited to talk to him today. How his work, his business is driven by the people he encounters, the genuine connections he forms with them. So please, everyone welcome Matt Porteous!
How are you, Matt?
Matt: I’m very good Maya, how are you?
Maya: I’m good. I am so excited to get to talk to you.
Matt: I’m really excited to be here with you.
Maya: It’s been a really long time since I saw you. Oh my God! I think we have this conversation every time now that I see you what, it’s been like over, it’s been exactly a year because the last time I saw you was New York!
Matt: Yeah, it’s exactly a year. I know I was looking the other day and I said, “Oh my God, we were on a flight this time, last year.” And then I know it was with you a year ago and it was so much fun, was it?
Maya: God! I’ve miss everybody so much! Did I tell you it was fun? We got to know each other a little bit better, even though we’d met in London before, and I got to meet Tamsin, and Becky, and Will Warr, who’s part of a separate team, but he was there too. It just, it was such a good time. I’m so glad we got to connect.
Matt: Yeah. So am I. I’m so glad! I know that, we got there in a few months later, everything just went very weird in our world, but the connections that we had just on those few days have been, it was so good for us, and our team. And it’s really kind of got us through this year, I think, just for these connections.
Maya: Yeah, I mean, I have to say all the virtual stuff I’ve been working on, it’s not the same. Let’s just be a hundred percent honest. It’s not the same, but it’s sort of, it gets you there a little bit, just a little bit. But I don’t think it would work if we hadn’t connected prior, like in a meaningful way, like over our conversations, over like, even like Tams and I just emails back and forth and building like our own thing. I don’t think if, and we’re diving right in, we’re not doing an intro or anything. For people that don’t know you, before we jump into this good stuff. I really, really want to dive back into that but Matt, for people that don’t know you, and if you don’t know Matt Porteous you, I don’t know what, where, what rock you live under, but Matt, for people that don’t know you, who are you, what did you do and what do you do and how did you get started?
Matt: That’s very sweet. Okay. I’m Matt Porteous. I am a commercial wedding, underwater, ocean photographer. I’ve been passionate about storytelling for a long time. And it started from a young age. I was brought up in a small Island of Jersey. It is just South of the UK. It’s an incredible Island, not many people know about it. Look at it on the map. But from a young age, I was brought up in nature. I was brought up in the sea, brought up surfing, and that really inspired my journey as a photographer. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I became a professional photographer, and that led me down the route of being a wedding photographer, and working with some of the most interesting individuals around the world, and also photographing weddings in some of the most beautiful places around the world. I feel incredibly fortunate to be doing what I love every single day.
Maya: What is till now, up-to-date, and I know you’ve shot some beautiful weddings, beautiful events across the world. If you had to pick like one favorite place that you’ve shot at? Shot in?
Matt: One favorite place that I’ve shown, we photographed a wedding in the AMAN Hotel in Greece last year. I think that was one of the most incredible places. The owner actually, he hired out the whole of the Amman, every apartment in the whole place. So, we got our own apartment with our own pool, which I think it was a nicest thing about it. Becky, my assistant, she just wanted to spend a whole time in her apartment and she just never wanted to leave, but it was…
Maya: Can you blame her?
Matt: No, I don’t! I mean, I wanted to stay there as well. We were on a holiday. This is great! This is so much fun! But then, we also had every single day, about 12, 15-hour shoot. So, we’d wake up early, make the most of it, and then make the most of it in the evening.
Maya: That’s a long day, 12, 15 hours? Is that, would you say typical for you or is this just happened to be this particular event?
Matt: I think it’s pretty typical for me. We always say to our clients that we never have a finishing time, so we’ll start first thing in the morning, and maybe it’s just going out and getting the detail of what’s happening around the location. We’re getting that sense that building of the wedding, the people that are working, the surrounding area. We’re getting that early in the morning and then we’ll photograph the couple, and we’ll photograph the bride, or maybe the groom’s doing something early in the morning. And that’s starting early and then, weddings are going on till, you know, weddings go until two in the morning, three in the morning.
Maya: Especially in Greece. I mean, they don’t have a curfew, and especially if you rented out the whole venue.
Matt: Yeah, no curfew exactly! So, yeah, the days are long, but really enjoyable at the same time.
Maya: You and I have had a bunch of conversations over the last two, three years now that we’ve known each other. And I know the thing that, one of the things you love about what you do, is being able to see people, if you will. You get to see them in their most private moments or in like when they’re sharing very, very intimate moments with each other, when you’re photographing a couple for their first look or what have you. Tell me more about this, the fact that connecting or seeing people and the connection you build with your clients, with your teams, with the people that you work with. Tell me more about what connection means to you.
Matt: I think connection is everything for a photographer. Now I always talk about this, I always say it’s connecting with people, and then it’s understanding the light. But the most important thing for a photographer, for a storyteller, is just being able to connect with people. And it’s that instant connection that you have with people, that first interest that you take in somebody, and you can just, it can just change. It can change everything. It’s just the way you, when you first walk into a room and you first meet somebody, and just have that instant connection, taking interest in them. And then the next few days, that one day, that single portrait shoot, that single couple shoot, is going to be fun for everybody. And everyone’s going to feel super relaxed, and we’re just going to have a great time. And that’s what I’m all about. I just want to get the very best out of people in a very short amount of time. And yeah, that just brings me joy to do that.
Maya: You cultivate connection, and joy through connection in everything you do. It’s your relationship with the ocean. It’s your relationship with your clients. But for somebody that’s sort of still getting there. And we’re going to jump into sort of, how do you build that connection? For somebody who’s not, hasn’t been doing this for years who wants to start developing. I call it a muscle because I think in many ways, learning to connect and understanding that is a muscle, but how do you develop that sense? How do you know you’re connecting with somebody and not being pushy?
Matt: I think it’s just being yourself. I mean, you just don’t try and be someone else. Don’t try and be who you think you should be. I doesn’t matter who you’re walking into a room and it doesn’t matter, you know, I say it doesn’t matter if it’s a client you’re with all the people that are working with them, or if it’s somebody looking after an event, just be the same of everybody. It might be somebody who’s paid for the whole event, or it could be somebody who’s like serving a drink, but just be nice with everybody, because that connection that you have with each and every person along the way that every, each and every person you meet in an event, one day, you never know what’s going to happen around the corner.
You never know who that person that you are nice to. It could end up having the most amazing wedding in the world. They could end up opening the biggest company in the world. I think that openness, just being nice to people all the time. When you’re on location, nothing should ever be an issue. Nothing should ever be a problem and where you can, help other people out as well and make their lives easier. I think that’s really important. I think it’s just be you, don’t treat anybody different. Everybody should just be treated the same, and just take interest in. I keep saying that take interest in people.
Maya: Do you believe in first impressions?
Matt: A hundred percent! First impressions are everything. A hundred percent!
Maya: Have you ever gotten a bad first impression of somebody?
Matt: Yeah, I think you do. Yeah. I do get bad first impressions. I always compare my team. I always find it really funny because, I always meet really interesting people on flights, or trains, or when I’m standing in queues, or just random places like this. And, you know instantly, that when you look at somebody, you can look at somebody and you can say hello to them. And you know, in an instant, whether you can continue a conversation, and you can have a nice conversation with somebody, or if there is no point and it is never going to go anywhere else. Outside of work, I think you you’ll get, it’s very quick to pick up if you can have a good conversation, if you’re going to get on with somebody or not. In business, in work, in the industry, I mean, I’ve been lucky. I always meet great people. I’ve always worked with great people, and I’ve never felt anything. I’ve never felt that there’s been a bad connection in my work.
Maya: I think that I would say, that’s probably true for people in our industry. We’re all people that care about other people, we’re giving people. Like we wouldn’t do what we do if we didn’t want to make your life easier, better, prettier, more joyful. I think I can see that. Speaking of connecting with people, and doing things and, what are you working on right now?
Matt: What am I working on right now? It’s been an interesting year, hasn’t it? We’ve had to adapt. I think that’s one thing that we’ve all done. You especially, and all of your team, and all the bright people and everybody in the wedding industry that I’ve spoken to, we’ve all managed to adapt. We’ve changed what we’re doing, we’re telling new stories, and I tried lots of different things last year. We did a lot more filming last year. We’re working with different projects last year. We’ve been trying to like creating this kind of experienced travel company. But what I learned from last year is, just to take it back to what I really know, what I’m really good, and that’s just being able to tell stories.
At the moment, we’re working on a new online tutorial series, which is just inspiring others to follow, to follow their dreams as a storyteller, to follow their dreams as photographers, and I’m really enjoying it. I’m really enjoying being able to – it took a bit of time for me to actually be able to explain how I do what I do. It’s been hard actually getting in front of a camera and talking in front of a camera. And the other thing is just, explain how I do it and understanding how I’ve done it. But then when I’ve started putting the pieces together, and understanding how it started from the beginning, and how I’ve got business, and how I go to amazing places and meet incredible people, there’s a really nice structure there. And we’ve been trying to put that together in a tutorial, I’ve been having a lot of fun doing it as well, especially with the bloopers.
Maya: There’s so much to unpack in there, getting in front of the camera is hard for you?
Matt: So hard. I think it’s hard for everybody, but yeah, it’s hard for me. It’s hard for me to get in front of the camera. Yeah.
Maya: What would you say when during the filming of – I’m guessing it’s filmed though. During the filming of these tutorials, what’s the one thing that you, and I’m not asking you to give away the tutorial, I get it. I’m going to put a link in so people can find it when it’s ready. What would you say is the one thing that you would want somebody to take away when they’re watching it? Is there a storytelling? Something about storytelling from what I understood. If there’s one thing you would say that is absolutely necessary to be able to tell a good story, what might that be?
Matt: That’s a really good question. If there’s one thing that’s necessary to tell a good story, I think it’s like finding your own purpose. Understanding the story and being truthful to yourself. Understanding that story that you want to tell, and working in an industry that you feel passionate about, because if you don’t do that, then people are going to see through you, and they’re going to know that you’re not happy in the industry. It’s being a hundred percent truthful with yourself, finding your own purpose for your storytelling, and then just the sheer magic of being a storyteller and what it can do to you and the people that you can meet, the places you can go to, and the doors that open from being a storyteller. I think that’s what we’re really trying to get across here. It is such a beautiful industry to be in, and the most important thing I think is, the people that you end up surrounding yourselves with, the people’s lives that you enter in, and the things that you can find out. That’s what we’re going to, we just want to inspire people just to follow their dreams and to follow the path, and to live a life that they’ve always dreamt of.
Maya: What’s the most inspiring story you’ve told?
Matt: What’s the most inspiring story I’ve told? I think it’s just me telling the story of my life over all these years and the people that I’ve met along the way. I wouldn’t say there’s one story that stands out. I think it’s just my journey over the last 15, 20, 25 years that I’ve documented. And that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve really just been documenting my life, and I meet people along the way. And then I’m able to tell their story, and it’s really being able to tell their story and be able to share it with them, or better share it with the world. I think all of this storytelling comes down to being able to give back and being able to get something on a personal level from it. It’s everything, isn’t it?
Maya: Yes. I can see that. You’ve had the pleasure of working with some very famous people, and then you’ve also had the pleasure of working with some not so famous, but very inspiring stories. Would you think that there is a common thread to, does it matter if somebody, do you think a storyteller story is listened to more because the person that the story is being told about is famous, a celebrity, a known person, or is it the story at the end of the day? Because I know you’ve done work in the Maldives, you do a lot of work around stories, around the ocean. You have, I believe it’s called Ocean Culture Life? You tell stories about the ocean to help with ocean conservation, and ocean communities across the globe. It’s not just specific to Jersey, but you’ve shot all over the world telling those stories. Do you tell stories differently depending on who you’re telling the story about?
Matt: I love your questions. I mean, I don’t think, I wouldn’t necessarily say that we tell stories differently. I think we just, what we do is, we go into a location and then we sit down, and we meet the people that we’re going to be working with and we get to find out about them. And then we share that story in the way that we feel best represents them. In terms of stories that listened to more, if it’s telling a story about somebody famous, or if it’s about an issue, that’s more that’s in the news more at the moment. I mean, yeah, absolutely. People will take more interest a lot of the time, if it’s a story about a famous celebrity, or an actor, an actress, or anyone like this in the world, but then, also, there are these hidden stories. They’re hidden stories we’re working.
We’re working on an ocean culture life at the moment, which is stories about the ocean. And that’s something that I’ve been very passionate about for the last five years. We’ve got storytellers dotted all around the world and they create incredible content. It’s a big thing on everybody’s mind at the moment, which is ocean plastics. That’s a big story and people listen to it, but then, there are smaller stories. There are stories that we’re working on around labor in India, and human trafficking. And it’s not known about at the moment, but the more you work on these projects, and the more photographers that work on these projects, the more that story is heard. And then the more people start listening and then it becomes a bigger story.
And I think same with influencers over the last few years, they were kind of listened to, but now they’re becoming such big entities in the industry. People are listening to them more, and more, and more. Some are going down, they’re talking about protecting the planet, and they’ve got a really big voice and people really listened to them. It’s an interesting world we’re living in. It’s great to work with inspiring people and famous people, and it’s great to work on big projects and these smaller projects that hopefully will become bigger projects, and more on people’s mind at some point.
Maya: Out of all the, you call them smaller projects, but I wouldn’t call them necessarily smaller projects, just sort of the projects that are close to your heart, what is a project that you’re working on right now that, you really want to bring visibility to, and you want people to connect with?
Matt: But I think it’s, we’re still really working on with ocean culture. We really want to be able to inspire others through the, through the art of photography in and around the ocean. And to be able to tell stories around their local communities, to be able to help their local communities, I this is something that I’ve been very passionate about, because I was brought up in an Island. I was brought up with near the ocean. It’s a culture that I was born and raised in. And I think that there’s so many amazing storytellers out there and there’s so many issues that are happening in the ocean, whether it’s around sustainable fishing or ocean plastics and, mental health, using the ocean for therapy. There is so many in Jersey now, there’s so many people going sea swimming every day.
And I think there are all these sorts of individual stories that can be told. It’s not just about the surface, but it’s great that here’s a junior surf program. It’s not just about scuba diving, then there’s free divers, and there are the lifeguards, and there’s all these stories around the ocean. I think, that is my kind of real passion that I’ve been working on for a long time. It’s being able to get this story across and just connect with lots of different people, and then give people a purpose to follow their dream as an ocean photographer, or get in the water and go and photograph whales in Tonga, or go to the Bahamas and dive with sharks and understand sharks. It’s an amazing world that we live in and to be a storyteller is an incredible thing, and to better connect with the community is amazing. And this is what we’re talking about here is being able to connect with communities. And if you’re in a storyteller’s community, if you connect them with other photographers, it’s great. You can have a really, you can meet some really interesting people. If you’re in an ocean community, you can connect with all these incredible ocean ambassadors and start meeting them and inspiring them or be inspired by them. It’s that connection and that community is, is really important.
Maya: I’ve been talking to a couple of people around this idea of connection and community and what connection means to them. For you personally, like obviously to be able to tell the story, to be able to see the story, are there certain daily practices that you have, that help you stay connected to yourself?
Matt: That helped me stay connected to myself? Do you mean in the present time? What am I doing now?
Maya: Present time, generally, your call.
Matt: To look after myself?
Maya: Yeah! Can’t be telling everybody else’s story and connect, and connecting their dots, but not your own.
Matt: Yeah, I am I connecting my own? Am I connecting? My own story at the moment, does this mean, do you mean like keeping healthy?
Maya: Yeah.
Matt: Okay. At the moment, before lockdown, I was waking up in the morning, I’d go boxing training, just training. I’ve got this really amazing trainer over here and he just sorts me out in the morning. We’ll go down there and do some pad work, do some exercise. And when there are waves, I’ll go down, I’ll be surfing, I’ll go surfing. When the seas calm around Jersey, I’ll go free diving. I mean, I like to be active all the time. I like to get out in nature as much as possible. At the moment it’s winter in, obviously winter in the UK, but when I spent too much time in front of the screen, when I’ve really discovered that moon cycles really affect me a lot more than I used to think. That the new moon and the full moon, I’m really kind of understanding how I feel in different times of the lunar cycle.
And if there are days, I’m just not feeling productive, then I would just take a drive and I would just go and sit down at the beach. And even if it’s too cold to be outside, I’ll just sit in my van and maybe taking the views. I think this has been really important for me, and what I’ve discovered from being back in home for a long time, because I used to be traveling all the time, but I’ve just discovered, I’ve kind of rediscovered just the importance of a local community, and the people that are close to me that I’ve done a lot to help their friends and their community out. So now I’m doing a whole series and capturing these stories and that’s something I’m working on throughout the next few weeks, is just capturing local stories and just getting out there and just building my love again for photography.
I think at the beginning of last year, I think I’d been photographing so much every single day, that when the lockdown actually kicked in, I think I put down my camera for a few months and just didn’t really do anything. I mean, I was working, we were working in film projects, but I wasn’t out with my camera taking pictures. So now I’ve got this new love for photography, and this new love for storytelling that I think I’d lost. And I had to have that back and I’m excited to kind of just keep eating healthy, and stay healthy, and try and keep a clear mind and, and know more what red wine, just stay on the water.
Maya: Well, that’s a terrible thing to lose your job, especially right now. Can’t not drink red wine!
Matt: I know. I thought I’m going to start this year, and just be healthy and have a clear head.
Maya: I follow an Ayurvedic diet. In the winter, in January, in case you’re looking for an excuse, one tablespoon of red wine is actually good for the system. Just so you know.
Matt: One tablespoon?
Maya: One tablespoon a day. Ayurvedic is like hundreds of thousands of years old. If they say it’s okay, It’s okay!
Matt: Okay. I’m going to get the one tablespoon. That sounds good!
Maya: Would you like me to send you a bottle of wine for the next like year month? The logic is that it’s dark red and in the time of January, because it’s sort of, I do want coming back to your point about sort of the lunar cycle does make a difference in how things affect you. But for me, like seasonal is very important. Staying sort of, and I’m not following a diet from like a hundred thousand years ago or 10,000 years ago. It’s, there’s certain principles which makes sense. You know, eat clean, eat, fresh, eat seasonally. Don’t eat things that don’t grow in near area necessarily. But the idea in January, because your entire blood goes inwards and you’re not moving as much, there’s not as much sunlight. Anything that’s basically red, beets, grapes. I know it sounds odd grapes in the season, but cranberries, anything that’s sort of red, including red wine, in moderation, actually helps your blood get stronger and preps you for spring.
Matt: I like it. And then, so in spring and summer, then it’s white wine? Oh no! It’s spring, It’ll be rosé. And then summer it’d be white.
Maya: Well, no, as it gets warmer, you start taking down the stuff that heats up your blood, wine would be one of those things that heats up your blood, so you don’t drink anything. You drink water with lime juice.
Matt: Oh, okay.
Maya. In the summer when you’re at the ocean, do you, I mean, people are out and about and I’m considering that you’re always behind a lens and you do this, you love what you do. Do you think you can tell somebody just by looking at them, like the series is called, what you see is what you get. And the idea is that, that’s not true. Do you think that when people, can you tell somebody by just looking at them? Who they are, what they are, what they would possibly be like, and how many times have you been wrong?
Matt: No, you can never tell it. You can never tell anybody by just looking at them. I think you can tell somebody when you ask them questions and you get to know them, you can never, I don’t know. I’m not a judgmental person. I wouldn’t judge somebody by how they look or how I’ve seen them on TV, say how they seem from a distance. I would, I guess there’s a little bit with, there’s little bit with everybody. You could have maybe an initial thought, but then, it’s when you first go and say hello to them, it’s when you first go and connect with them, and ask them a question, then you can make a judgment.
Maya: When you meet somebody for the first time, what’s the first thing you want to know about them? Why?
Matt: . Yeah, I love this. The first thing I want to know about, I just want to know about them. I want to know what they like to do. I want to know about their journey. I want to know about their life. It’s according to how much time I’ve got? But you know, I just interested in people. I like to get to know people. I like to find out about people’s lives.
Maya: What’s the one question you always ask? Like, you’re meeting me for the first time, what’s the one thing you will ask? No matter, I don’t care if you’re Ellie Golding or if you’re the kid running down the street in the cuts of Bombay. What’s the one question you ask?
Sort of one, I am sure you asked more than one question, but like the thing you want to know.
Matt: If I was about to first meet somebody to do a photo shoot with them, I’ll just ask them what do they love to do when they’re not having their wedding day off. If they’re not at work, what do they love to do in their spare time? I think that’s kind of what I love to do in spare time when it makes him happy, you know, wait, where were you brought up? I’d like to know where they’re from, and then find out a little bit about where they’re from and their hometown. I think that’s it really.
Maya: That’s a good starting point. For somebody who’s looking to start out as a photographer, as a filmmaker, as a storyteller. And I love the fact that you call it storytelling, not filmmaking or photography, if this were more mentoring opportunity, what would be one idea or piece of advice that you would give somebody when it comes to the effectiveness of connecting and storytelling and how those two things are interwoven.
Matt: The effect? Well, I mean, I always send out questions to anyone who’s coming in front of mentoring session with me, just to find out a little bit about them. And the advice I’d give them, the advice I’d give everybody is, I think I said it before, is just to be yourself. And I think a lot of people are really trying to, they want to kind of be there at the beginning. You know, they kind of lose that.
They want to kind of be at the top of the game in a short amount of time, but it’s really is about, it takes a long time to get to where, to get to a point. I think that everybody wants to get to. You enter the world as being a photographer and you want to kind of make it as a photographer, but you just have to enjoy the process because the process is long and it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, the process is long. But you just really have to enjoy that process and enjoy being a photographer, enjoy being a storyteller, enjoy meeting people, and just work at it hard. Just be most motivated, to work hard with it, and really just give it a hundred percent. You know, I’d always say that, just give it a hundred percent and then give it more, because you’re going to be the photographer who’s going to be remembered if you’ve given it that hunt. If you’ve given it more than a hundred percent and you’ve over-delivered. If you do all that and you give it time , and you enjoy the process and you enjoy life, then you can be a really successful storyteller. I think anyone can do it, but they just really have to put that time, motivation, and dedication into it.
Maya: That is a fantastic piece of advice. And I think it holds true, not just for trying for a storyteller. It holds true for anybody that’s looking to get to the top of the game. There is no, red pill, blue pill, take one of them and you’ll go up or down, it’s consistency, and really great piece of advice.
Matt: Yeah. 100% isn’t it? It’s in every industry. People just see when people at the top, and they think they got there really quickly, but it just doesn’t work like that.
Maya: Yeah. I think, the thing that makes me think of to use an ocean reference the iceberg, right. People just see that top bit when they start seeing you, they don’t see the miles and years, and all the things that you did well before. All of a sudden you just showed up. Nobody just shows up.
Matt: Yeah, not, exactly. No one just shows up.
Maya: Well, Matt, I appreciate you making the time for me today, and beautiful pieces of advice there. I can’t wait to see more of the stories that you tell, and I hope lots and lots and lots of people sign up for your new tutorial series, which is all about connecting to tell better stories.
Matt: See what it is. Thank you so much Maya. I really enjoyed being with you today, and I look forward to being able to have a personal connection with you again, having a coffee and a red wine.