Usually seen in his Dickies bermudas and black Birkenstocks, Matthew’s photography is a carbon copy of his sense of fashion – comfortable and non-assuming.

His foundation of nonchalance stems from playing bum on the beaches of Australia. Having dropped out of a Computer Science degree programme from the University of Wollongong at 17, he faced the choice of conscription or local tertiary education. Under the “gentle” encouragement of his father, he found himself writing an application essay celebrating the joys of fellatio in response to the then-US political situation a.k.a. Operation BLUE DRESS.

In a strange recurring phenomenon better known as “matt’s luck”, he was accepted and spent the next three years battling self-diagnosed dyslexia at the School of Film and Media Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic. In his final year, with the notion that pressing a button was easier than writing essays stuck in his head, he embarked on his photographic journey, undergoing a semester of photojournalism 101.

In order to get in free to concerts, he started contributing backstage photos to magazines and shot several popluar music acts such as Missy Elliott, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan as well as the annual WOMAD festival.

“matt’s luck” struck again when he was called up for national service. He was drafted into the Singapore Armed Forces Film Unit where he served as a combat cameraman, shooting both video and stills over air, land and sea.

Besides documenting Singapore’s military history, he was also an outstanding sia kang warrior (or in military speak, all rounded errand boy), as such he was promoted to the rank of Media Specialist. He also held the secondary vocation of School Sergeant Major where he was in charge of the discipline and welfare of soldiers in his unit.

Through the workings of good past life karma (he believes he was a water buffalo), he has since covered various high key events ranging from the Cannes Film Festival to Bill Clinton’s fundraisers to Singapore Fashion Week.

He has contributed editorially for the following list of magazines:

PRESTIGE, TATLER, LUXURY, AUGUST, CLEO, MAXIM, SHAPE, APPETITE, LUXX, PC MAG, WIRELESS WORLD, LIME

as well as other corporate publications.

He has just completed a stint at Reuters as a Photographic Sub Editor and is waiting to embark on more photographic adventures in Australia.

Having worked in kitchens since he was fourteen, he reckons if he wasn’t a photographer, he would have probably been a chef.

On his days off, you can find him whipping up a storm in his HDB flat’s kitchen for his family and friends.