Matthew Schmidt is an amateur photographer who spends a good deal of time shooting action sports such as motorsports, lacrosse, and soccer, striving to catch that decisive moment that is representative of the sport or event. But beyond that he enjoys shooting macro, flowers, and still life. He has attended training courses or workshops with photographers such as Freeman Patterson, Andre Gallant, Art Wolfe, John Isaac, Mary Lindhjem, Mollie Isaacs, and Joe Miller. Each has helped him achieve a new level of appreciation for some aspect of photography and taught him a new technique that he has added to his repertoire.

In 2003 he replaced his aging 35mm SLR with a DSLR and began a long journey toward becoming a better photographer. The digital camera forced him to learn digital darkroom techniques since his only darkroom experience had been black and white contact exposures in a 5th grade science class. But the once foreign techniques have become second nature, and he has evolved beyond JPEG captures to non-destructive techniques that are far more naturally processed. As a Canon camera owner, Matthew found the lack of interpretative, in-camera techniques to be limited, so he has adapted film techniques to Photoshop actions. He runs a blog where he has posted these actions for post processing techniques for montages, multiple exposures and Orton effects.

As a member of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society, Matthew has served on the Board as the Digital Competition Coordinator, Co-VP for Competitions, Equipment Manager, PSA Representative and the Workshops, Education and Training Coordinator.

In real life Matthew is a professional computer consultant who runs his own consulting practice. He is comfortable working on Mac, Windows and various Unix operating systems.

Role of the Judge

Matthew sees the camera club judge as a teacher or educator, inspiring others to achieve greater skills and to improve their technique. A judge should be a student of the visual arts with an ability to articulate their decisions in a constructive manner, appropriate for the skill level of the photographers being critiqued. It is incumbent on the judge to be open-minded concerning the images, decisive in making choices and respectful of the competitors and their emotional investment in their images.

Criteria for Judging

Criticism is a necessary element of judging, and Matthew strives to make any criticisms specific and constructive. He evaluates the mastery of the techniques employed, and  looks  for photographers to expose something of themselves in their work. In addition he looks for an emotional connection with the image that will last, not just immediate impact. Matthew tries to pick images that he would be willing to put on his wall and look at day after day.

Website: loreleistudios.com