The end of an era...
Last week I had made this "Facebook official;" this week it's "website/blog official."
I have decided to retire from photographing Semi-Pro Football, effective in November, following the WSFL Championship Game. There are many factors that came into play for me to make this decision; including, but not limited to:
1. I now have 2 daughters and more of my time is required at home.
2. I cannot compete with other photographers that give their pictures away. Once those pics hit the internet, my web traffic STOPS.
3. Semi-Pro drama. If you've been around it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, sorry, I won't be able to explain it in a condensed fashion. Let's just say High School girls have NOTHING on Semi-Pro football players.
So now what? I'm not giving up photography completely. I still plan on shooting for the Green Bay Blizzard Professional Indoor Football Team (sweet gig), and doing work for my High School alma mater, Fox Valley Lutheran High School, doing football, maybe more basketball, some softball, maybe some volleyball in there as well. I also plan on continuing my work with the Fox Cities Ice Dogs Adult Amateur hockey team as well; so, still a full slate. What I'd like to do is get into more college sports, maybe some football and basketball. Lawrence University is in my town of Appleton, and my college alma mater, The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is within reasonable driving distance, but I have no idea who to contact and how to get my foot in the door there. If anybody has an idea, or contacts of your own, feel free to leave a comment or email me. Another thing I'd like to do is get into the new basketball team in Oshkosh, The Wisconsin Herd. It's the Bucks' new D-League Team (I think it's G-League now). Also, no idea who to contact. I sent a couple emails to the team via their website, but I'm not holding my breath there.
But, that's in the future. For now, though, I have the Mariner's season and High School Football to get through, then I can worry about what I'm doing in 2018. That seems to be my problem--getting ahead of myself.
So until next time, watch out for the shadows...
Matt
Good Morning!
I just realized it's been almost TWO YEARS since my last blog post...
So, what's new?
All the pictures from the old website are on the new website (old news, I know, but TWO YEARS...).
We had a baby in September of '16, so some of my shooting had to get scaled down:
Done is my time with PantherU, being gone for so many hours for a game was taxing, especially if you're not getting paid for it...I only did one high school basketball game this year, a Fox Valley Lutheran boys game, had more on the schedule, but things like work and family got in the way of that (no complaints...at least on the family excuse).
I stepped away from the Fox River Raiders Football team, after the game where the players were fighting on the sideline, I had enough of that. Still working for the Blizzard, though. They will have to drag me kicking and screaming away from that gig. So that only leaves Fall Semi-Pro, the Manitowoc County Mariners. We won the League Championship two years in a row, in '15 and '16. So I have won 4 Tiles in the Wisconsin State Football League. Don't know anybody who has more.
So far, nobody has been calling me for Spring Semi-Pro; one team was interested in me, but once I told him my rate, he never got back to me. Message received. Your loss. So, it's just the Blizzard for spring, until the Mariners start in August.
Still doing Ice Dogs hockey, two more weekends of that, but work is being difficult, so I think I'm done with hockey until next season.
That's all for now. Maybe I'll try to post more in the future, or at least sooner than 2019...
Matt
2015
2015 has been cool for me thus far. Didn't get to much basketball, at least the High School variety, but my stuff with UW-Milwaukee and PantherU was good. I recently signed on with the Green Bay Blizzard Indoor Football Team, so I am now shooting Professional Football!
Most of the public stuff on the website here has been Fox Cities Ice Dogs hockey, because that's the stuff I actually own the rights to. The Milwaukee and Blizzard stuff are actually owned by the company and team, respectively, so I can't really post or sell the pics here. But I've been sharing the devil out of them on my facebook page, so I'm trying to show that stuff off.
One more month until Semi-Pro Football starts for me. I've signed on with another new team, the Fox River Raiders. Some old friends from my Storm days are involved, so it's a nice reunion. In addition, I've gone back to the Sheboygan County Rebels for Summer. The Rebels switched leagues this year, going to the Mid-States Football League. Tougher League, Summer season. Fall is still open. Might just travel to different games.
That's all for now, just wanted to give my adoring fans an update. Still working on getting older pictures up. 2011 and 2012 have to be uploaded yet. I have a few weeks off from shooting, so that should give me a little time to do that.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
Updates...
Welcome back!
Please excuse the mess, I'm still updating. I'm still transferring all the old pictures from the old website onto the new one. Seeing as I've been doing this for 8 years, there are a lot of pictures. I've updated everything from 2013 to present, now I've gone back to 2006 when I started this endeavor and will go forward. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the year. Yes, I know, that's a long time, but there are a lot of pictures to go over.
So if you're looking for older pictures, be patient, it will get up eventually, and come back often to see what's been updated!
Matt
Welcome!
Welcome to the ALL NEW mjkphoto.us!
I am looking forward to this new chapter with Zenfolio. The old website hosting company was giving me the run around, and I had enough of it. So, after looking around, doing some trial periods, I decided upon the fine folks at Zenfolio to do my hosting and sales legwork. ALL of the old pictures are here, dating back to the first Fox Valley Force game in 2006. So look around, re-hash some memories, and remember, most of the pictures are for sale!
There are some great new features here, such as the BLOG! I can use this to tell you where I will be on a given week or my thoughts on photography in general, but never to throw anyone under the bus. That's what Facebook is for. This is for the fans.
Also, there is a guestbook you can sign. All entries are welcome, just keep it clean!
There is also a contact page, where you can contact me to ask me questions or just tell me what you think of me.
Also, with the new site, I can once again offer COUPONS! I have done this in the past, but the old site changed things around, so I had to discontinue the practice. Now, I can offer a small discount to my loyal fans.
Just like the old site, you can purchase photos directly off the website; prints, downloads, and other gifts are available. The new site also takes PayPal, so that is another option for you.
Thank you for being a loyal fan, and here's to many years of photographic excellence!
Matt