I got an email last night from our dear friend, Matthew Jordan Smith. And I had to share!

For those of you who don’t know his name, you are so glad you read the blog today. Matthew is one of the best photographers in the fashion industry. Many of the fashion magazine images you see have been taken by Matthew. Check out his website, and you’ll be surprised at how many images you recognize. Yep, he took those.

Matthew is not only a photographer, but an author, speaker and sometimes seen on America’s Next Top Model.

But why am I showing you his photos and blogging about Matthew today?

I read his new blog last night and thought you would all go BANANAS reading it too!

Matthew has posted images and stories of him working behind the scenes. Whether he’s setting up a shoot for Queen Latifah or Oprah–you get to read about it. And believe me, you will be inspired because he shares from his heart.

Brian and I first met Matthew last January when Sony asked us to speak for them at PMA in Vegas. Matthew is a complete icon in the industry, but he didn’t act like it at all. Brian and I were blessed by how kind and generous he was–completely unassuming. When we all spoke for Sony again in March at WPPI, we took Matthew to a bunch of wedding photography parties, and every time I looked at him he was smiling ear to ear just having the best time with everyone. Seriously, Matthew has a heart of gold. That’s why I’m so excited to see that he’s doing a blog–and not just any blog, but he’s transferring his approachable self onto his blog and letting you into his world. What a gift to us!

Go check out Matthew’s blog. It’s fairly new. I promise you’ll spend at least an hour reading his posts. Even if you never aspire to fashion photography, the behind the scenes look at what he does is fascinating. Right now he has posts about how his team works together to pull off a shoot, or the inspiration behind a shoot he did of Gregory Hines, or the story of how he even got started in photography.

Leave him some blog love too! I noticed he has five or so comments on his posts. If you are inspired by his stuff, leave him a comment and let him know you are out there, and “Yes, you love that he is blogging and letting us into his world.” Seriously, comments mean the world to bloggers. It let’s us know we aren’t just writing to ourselves but people are actually connecting with us. And tell him you found us from here.

Thanks friends! I promise, you won’t be disappointed!

Have a great weekend! Love you Matthew!

xoxoxo, Me Ra

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