About

About

My name is Matt Stoffel and I am a photographer, marketer, and technologist from Rochester, NY. You'll find me at the crossroads of Marketing and IT and I've been around web technologies for more than two decades working on everything from eCommerce, to enterprise content management systems, to mobile apps, and more. I have also contributed to business strategy and development as well as product testing and marketing activities like campaign development, trade show support, and more. 

I have the pleasure of working at one of the world's most iconic brands, Eastman Kodak Company. It remains one of the most influential and uniquely diverse companies in the world making products for a wide variety of applications. In fact, if you've ever taken a picture chances are you have used Kodak technology. It's amazing to think about how this company has shaped the world we live in for the past 130 plus years. I'm proud to be a third generation Kodaker, making it a family tradition to work at the big yellow box.

That's actually how my photography journey started...


I began taking pictures seriously in 2002. I had used film cameras here and there in years prior, but I was bit by the digital camera bug and pulled the trigger on an expensive pro-sumer camera from Kodak. It actually had manual settings, a zoom lens, interface capabilities to allow you to use the computer to control it, and much more.

Matt Stoffel

It was incredible and opened my eyes to the world of photography. I found myself taking the time to make photos, not just snap shots. I was playing with how light affected the scene, composition, and more.

Shortly after, I had the opportunity to shoot with a Kodak digital SLR camera. The image quality blew me away. Learning about lenses and professional level features drew me in and I have been a digital SLR shooter ever since.

Fast forward a few years when I had acquired a medium format film camera from my father-in-law. This coincided with an office move that sat me right next to the PR rep for Kodak film. She handed me a few sample rolls and off I went. I began to experiment with it and quickly found myself amazed with the results. Both the camera and the film produced this one of a kind image. Medium format gave me a depth of field and composition that I had never experienced before. The film gave textures, color, and exposure latitude that I had not yet seen. I absolutely love the fact that I take a picture and don't view it on a preview screen. You trust in your abilities and wait to get the images back from the lab. It's always a thrill!

My personal work is almost all film. I find myself taking a lot more time to make sure the composition and lighting is going to render the way I want, and just generally slowing down the whole experience. I think it has enabled my artistic eye to become more dominant as I look to make the photo the way I want it.

KODAK Camera Club logo

I was able to turn this passion into a community and brand affinity program at Kodak by reimagining the KODAK Camera Club. For over 100 years the KODAK Camera Club has been fostering a community of imaging enthusiasts through membership, programming, and resources throughout the world for company employees. I reimagined what the club could be and opened it up to the public in 2017. I formalized the mission of education, experience, and exhibition and produced and hosted a myriad of events in support of the three pillars. For example: Open Studio Sessions, Intro classes to 135, 120, and 4x5 film, Artist Talks, Gallery Openings, Themed Photo Competitions, and more. I've had the extreme pleasure of working with amazing artists and companies to create unique events for the community and the response has been tremendous.  

We've held events around the US and England including at KODAK Center, which is a stones throw away from the home of film manufacturing. We've run intro classes, factory tours, gallery exhibitions, and more!

If you can't make it to a Camera Club event, you can find me around social media @StoffelMatt.

Here's some other places you may have seen me.

No comments:

Copyright Matt Stoffel. All rights reserved. Powered by Blogger.
© Threedown - Matt Stoffel. Developed by ThemeShine.
×

Latest Posts

Blog Archive

Tweets

Follow Me