Mark Makers: Matt Barnes, Photographer

Steaks with Steven Stamkos. A smoke with Snoop Dogg. A yacht party with a crew of beautiful, nude women. Matt Barnes’ C.V. reads like just about every guy’s bucket list The Ontario-raised photographer has made a name for himself by shooting any scene he can conjure, no matter how wild. And it’s that impossible-is-nothing work ethic that’s made the 31-year-old one of the most sought-after photographers in the industry, his work having been featured in Rolling Stone, Vogue and, of course, Sharp. You know his photos when you see them; they’re the ones that look better than real life.

Can you remember what first pulled you toward your passion?

I started pretty early. My dad always had a camera and my family took lots of pictures. So it was always around. In high school I got a Minolta X-700 from his as a gift and just started taking more and more pictures. I was kind of lucky in that I knew what I wanted to be really early on. I went to photography school for a couple years, and then worked for different photographers for five years after that. I figured out that being a commercial photographer in Canada was a pretty good way to make a living. So I started building my portfolio and showing my work to art directors. I still try to put my work in front of every single person I meet on the day to day.

What career achievement are you most proud of?

Well, my team and I won a Juno for best video of the year. It was “Feeling Good” by The Sheepdogs. It was very fun to work on. The band wasn’t available to be in the video. I wrote a treatment for it and they said, ’Yeah this is all good, but we won’t be available to be in the video. How do you feel about making it with dolls?’ At first, I thought, ‘This is really stupid.’ But I like stop-motion animation, so it ended up being something we were super proud of. It took about a month to film. It was a very tedious process.

Do you make a conscious effort to be original?

No, not really. But I try to do whatever I want. The big thing for me is to be able to come up with an idea on the spot and just roll with it. So if I wanted to shoot five naked chicks riding on an elephant, we have the resources and people around me to make that happen. People know how important that is to me, so they trust my ideas. Especially these days, as I get more of a reputation and good clients and bigger budgets, people want me to do me.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

Most of the money I make, I invest back into my pictures. A lot of people say you’d be a lot better off investing in mutual funds or something, but I’ve always put all my money back into shooting in hopes that it’ll pay off. I still kind of have a childish dream of being a super famous photographer. The same kind of dream you have when you finish college—you want to be the best at what you do and feel like you’re extremely successful.

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