Matt Porteous | Founder OCL | Photographer | Filmmaker | UK
Ocean Culture Life Founder
Having grown up along the rugged coastline of Jersey in the Channel Islands, Matt has surfed, dived and swum his way into a peaceful and respectful relationship with the sea. His first yellow, underwater Minolta accompanied him everywhere. It was through that simple lens that he learnt to capture the sublime beauty of nature.
Matt is drawn to stories, and he excels in telling them. Driven by a desire to document experiences from the intimate to the adventurous, Matt is alive to the emotion hidden in each moment and possesses a unique ability to capture it. With an ever-growing passion and care for the water and our world, Matt is committed to bringing light to stories with a ‘why’, a purpose that goes beyond the individual. His continuing success is evident in the transformational energy and quiet honesty of his photos.
His mentors, close friends, and travel opportunities have all influenced his approach to his work over the past 20 years. He is passionate about his photography and always has been. The love he has for his work, the people and places that he encounters along the way is apparent in the detail and perspective, in the stories he tells in his photographs.
Below the breaking waves.
“I've always had a fascination with our world below the breaking waves. To me, it symbolises the world that we live in today, the calm after every storm. The beauty, clarity and chaos. Reefs that survive and many that have gone, fish numbers are down in oceans, where others they thrive. We live in a incredible time surrounded by a beautiful world, but we must search further to find and work harder to protect. This is how I see the world.”
Location - The Maldives, Southern Atolls.
It is with fascination that one watches matt’s emersion in his subjects. He appears to be devoid of fear as he captures the enormity of waves, the ferocity of wind and the maelstrom of storms. His photographs of huge waves in Hawaii tangibly reveal the power of the ocean as it envelopes the surfer then tumbles and twists him, spitting out the surfboard, luring the viewer into his adrenaline-fuelled world. Dynamic flow, colour, vision, depth of field and charm all contribute to Matt’s professional photographic perspective.
The ocean holds a special place in Matt’s life. Having grown up along the rugged coastline of Jersey in the Channel Islands, he has surfed, dived and swum his way into a peaceful and respectful relationship with the sea. He communicates his passion for the preservation and appreciation of our oceans by portraying their beauty, fragility and force. Just as he is committed to the guardianship of our environment, he is also engrossed in pursuing excellence in the quality of his work. Matt has won many awards for his pictures over the years from professional bodies and photography magazines in categories such as Travel, Sport and Weddings. However, his real motivation and drive to work tirelessly on his projects, is to capture the vitality of life.
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths that we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” - Maya Angelou
Instagram - @mattporteous
The Today Show
