Jorge Quinteros
Blogger, web enthusiast & avid photographer based in Brooklyn.

5th September 2009

Photographer Spotlight: Mike Matas

Having recently declared his departure from Apple where he worked on the iPhone Human Interface Design Team for the past 4 years, icon and interface designer Mike Matas has equally proven that his artistic skill is not just limited to work accomplished on a computer. He’s also quite the accomplished photographer with an exquisite eye for seeing beyond the mundane and extracting the best out of any situation.

1. How would you define your photographic style?

I really don’t consider myself to have a photographic style. Not that most of my photos don’t have a style to them, they do, but that style really comes from whatever it is I’m taking a photo of, not me forcing a style on it.

I don’t approach taking photos by going “let me take a photo of this in my photographic style”. I try to really embrace and exaggerate whatever emotions I get out of what I’m taking a photo of and turn that into the style of the photo.

One style I try to be careful when using is the “vintage”. You know, black & white, screwed up white balance, the Polaroid look, stuff like that. It’s a really easy trick to take an ordinary photo, mess with the white balance, maybe give it a thick vignette and voila! it looks like a nice old photo.

I really try not to use that stuff unless it acts as a sort of character in the photo and helps tell its story, rather than just having it literally look old. Screwed up white balance, black & white, the Polaroid look, these did not used to be styles, they were just the way cameras took photos back in the day, whether you liked it or not. It’s only looking back threw the lens of nostalgia that it becomes a glorified style.

I think the same thing is gonna happen with grainy digital artifact filled cellphone photos of today, in 10 years once cameras have grown out of all that people will look back and get all nostalgic about the charm of the digital artifact filled cellphone photo and start using that too as a style.

So that’s just a long way of saying I try to take photos that look like they were taken today, using modern technology, so in 10 years, they will be nice old photos with all the faults and charm of todays modern technology.

2. What does your camera equipment consist of?

I currently use a Canon 5D Mark II with these lenses:

• Canon 16-35mm 1:2.8
• Canon 50mm 1:1.4 
• Macro Extension Tube
• Canon 70-200mm 1:2.8
• 2x Extender
• Canon 15mm 1:2.8
• Canon 28-135 1:3.5 - 5.6

I’d say 90% of the time I am either using my wide 16-35mm or standard 50mm.

I also have a couple Low Pro camera bags, my favorite is the Primus AW. I traveled for a month last summer all over Europe with nothing but this backpack. It’s got a great specialized camera compartment in the bottom half with a little door on the side so you can quickly grab your camera without taking the whole thing off your back. The top half of the backpack leaves room for what other non camera related stuff I need with me. The back of the bag has a exposed sleeve where I carry my 15” MacBook Pro and the bottom of the bag has is a built in hide away rain jacket.

3. What’s your post-production software of choice?

Currently I’m using iPhoto and Photoshop’s RAW editor. I think Photoshop is one of the most important and unacknowledged parts of photography these days. When I’m shooting I almost always just throw the camera into the automatic settings, not worrying about color, exact exposer, flash, or any of that. When I’m shooting I just focus on getting a good composition that’s in focus.

If I can get that then I can do the rest at home. It’s one of my favorite parts of doing photography, sitting there with a photo and tweaking the colors, the lighting, the contrast until it looks the way I saw it when I went to take the photo or until looks the way I wish it would have looked when I took the photo. It’s something cameras just can’t do on their own. Photoshop is where the serious art happens.

4. Are you considering any equipment upgrades in the future?

I’m really happy with the Canon 5D Mark II I got in January. I’m sticking with that for now.

5. Share with us you proudest photograph?

I would not call it my proudest photograph, but it’s one I really like personally. I was in the back of a giant prop propelled Chilean military Hercules C130 cargo plane over the Drake Passage on my way to Antarctica. I had got up to go the restroom, a propped up outhouse in the back of the plane.

Climbing over crates of supplies the plane was brining to Chilean scientist stationed on the content I passed by this officers who was drinking tea from a thermos and light from one side by this little window. He had this amazing look on his face that I read as “We are on our way to Antarctica, one of the coldest most isolated places on earth. I have a family back home, what am I doing here?”.

I didn’t have my camera on me but the whole things was so perfect and wrapped up for me so ended up going back and grabbing my camera and asking him if he minded if I took his photo. I love when photos just present themselves like that, where you don’t have to go looking for angles and stuff like that to try to make something out of nothing.

3rd September 2009

Inglourious Basterds ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Last night we saw Quentin Tarantino’s newest creation Inglourious Basterds. The film was outrageous. It completely rewrites history in this incredible freaky vision of how so many wished things had happen in WWII. It’s very difficult to admit that the bloodshed and cruelty against the Nazis was unusually amusing but the cheering and rooting of the audience took away any guiltiness I had.

I loved every single minute of the film. The considerable degree of detail was gorgeous that you couldn’t resist looking pass the acting at times and just admire the pieces that garnished a scene. Even the carefully crafted camera movements was as vital and noticeable. I’m generally not an admirer of subtitles but you get so captivated by the story that you find it remorseful not to follow along, so you’ll get over that.

Some performances were great but one that stood above the rest for me was the most menacing character represented by Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter” who I’m sure will pick up a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

The most obvious answers to the question of what makes a great film star is talent and even that sounds somewhat vague because it’s not the only variable to consider. I’m not a cinema critic but from my perspective, the best form to judge a performance is to analyze if the actor convinced you that the part they portrayed was meant for them and absolutely no one else.

Christoph did just that and his stunning ability to wipe out his own identity and exchange it for the one given was remarkable. His acting was very reminiscent of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. It was that good.

Both were highly observant of human behavior with deep understanding of it and could recreate it in front of any audience. You grow to hate them both but still hold respect for their characters because of their dedication to their work regardless of how inhuman it may have been. Stop reading now and getting discouraged by what critics say and go see the movie.