Meet Matthew Tangeman | Photographer/Videographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matthew Tangeman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matthew, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Working for myself always seemed like the natural, intuitive path to take – at the most basic level, I simply don’t like being told what to do! But beyond that, self employment really is the best solution in my line of work (photography/videography).

Growing up as an aspiring photographer, I was consistently told that I was never going to be able to make a living doing it, that it was too difficult, that not enough of those jobs exist. In a sense they were right about that last point – you don’t often see job listings for a photographer. Very few companies actually need one full time. But almost every company needs a photographer *some times*, and that’s when I realized I had to put myself out there and create the job I wanted for myself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
To be honest, I’m just getting started – I’m only 4 years in to doing this full time, and those first couple years involved scraping by with so little I’m not even sure I could call it employment. But I was committed – I knew I didn’t want to settle for anything less than eventual full-time self employment making art.

For better or for worse, frugal “dirtbag” living is wildly accepted, often glorified, in the mountain + outdoor circles I travel in. This made living out of my small Honda – shoestring budget, climbing and photographing as much as I could, hustling photos to a few dying print magazines – seem totally normal, even worth romanticizing.

I had a blast then, though I’m grateful now to be able to rent a desirable home and live a comfortable, normal enough lifestyle. I’m not sure I could’ve committed to full-time as a photographer without the experience and networking that came from that year or two in the trenches, “dirtbagging it”.

Some days I compare my current life to then and it feels like I’ve really made it. Other days I compare myself to those who are years ahead of me and I wonder whether I should call myself a professional at all – if there’s an artist out there who doesn’t deal with imposter syndrome from time to time, I need to know your secret! But by and large, every dollar I make with my camera feels like a dream come true and I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had.

So while I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far, I know it all pales in comparison to what’s to come. I bring an authentic, grounded, story-first approach to my photo and video work, and I’m very excited to channel that energy into bigger projects over the next couple of years. It’s too early to say exactly what that will look like, but I’m looking forward to gradually shifting away from corporate storytelling and dive deeper into longform, documentary-style work for a greater purpose. Stay tuned!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is not the question for me – I live in Dolores, CO, about 7 hours from Denver, and the number of times I’ve been to the city I can count on one hand. But here I’d fill a day with some time in the high San Juan Mountains, fly fishing on the Dolores River, milkshakes at the Depot and topping it off with great beer and pizza at the Dolores River Brewery as the monsoons roll in.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents, my partner, so many teachers and professors – but who really stands out in my mind is writer Andy Dappen

Andy is the founder and editor at WenatcheeOutdoors.org (WenOut), an outdoor recreation non-profit based in my PNW hometown, along with being a highly successful freelance writer. As a socially awkward teenager with a penchant for outrageous wanderings and solo missions into the mountains, I’d habitually browse WenOut scheming up new places to explore, eventually getting in touch with Andy himself (who seemed like a real celebrity in my narrow small-town worldview).

At a time when pretty much everyone else would refer to my mountain & camera adventures as “goofing off”, Andy seemed to recognize some sort of professional value, and offered me a summer job writing, photographing, and mapping for WenOut. As a result, I learned then at the age of 16 that it actually is possible to make money and do the things I love at the same time. There’s no way I would’ve stuck with freelancing and pursued my dream the way I have had I not had that glimpse of what it could look like so early on – and I have Andy to thank for that.

Additionally, small shoutout to the book ‘The Artist’s Way’. Once I started seeing what I do as art, and myself as an artist, I really began to own it and fully lean into this path.

Website: mtangeman.com

Instagram: m.tangeman