Exposure: His majesty, The Simpson.

Finally, I am from the deep and long hell of finals. My apologies for being absent for such a long time and not informing all of you about the wonderful photographers we have here in Vancouver. As it is my first post in a long while, I thought who better to feature then Beyond Robson's own - Matt Simpson.

Mr. Simpson is known around BR as the guy who does the photo features and give all of you camera lovers out there your one posts worth of fame. His photography ranges from digital, film and trippy lomography photos. His lomography and polaroid work is my most favourite, thus it is the focus of my feature today. I hope you enjoy reading all that he has to say about photography. I would also like to hear your suggestions on Vancouver photographers that you love and admire, and who you would like to see featured on BR. Drop me a line in the comment box, or if all fails or e-mail me at julia@beyondrobson.com

Your photography constantly changes in styles and formats – sometimes you have digital, lomography or film. Which of your cameras do you find most fun to use?

Hands down the Polaroid Impulse is the most fun. When you bring it out at a social event, people show one of two emotions - fear or excitement, and either of these tends to make good photos. There is also something to be said for the nearly instant gratification that polaroids provide.

The only other camera that comes close would be my Yashica Mat 124G Twin Lens camera. It is such a different take on photography from what everyone expects. You look down on the camera from the top and there are two lenses up front (one takes the photo the other is the viewfinder). Probably the best thing about this camera is that since you don't have to hold it up to your face it doesn't always look like you're taking a photo, which makes it great for more candid photography.

Being one of BR's authors, who also features people's photos, nowadays, do you find it harder and harder to find powerful photos in the photo streams?

I don't think it's hard to find powerful photos, but it is hard to find photos from a variety of photographers. Sure, the number of people submitting to the BR Flickr group has increased since I started, but I don't know if I can remember a week in recent months where one of the featurees hadn't been featured in one of the previous two columns. In short, it's not more photos I'd like to see, but rather more photos from more people.

Do you find photography to be a fulfilling part of your life?

Yes, sometimes I think it's the only thing keeping me sane.

Do you see yourself going anywhere else with photography or are you going to stick to just pursuing it as a hobby?

I already have a small (tiny, actually) business going as a photographer. I'm still building it up, but it's slow going since I am basically not doing any kind of advertising at all beyond the word of mouth that I get from the people I have worked with. I kind of
like it that way though, since people generally have to see and like my work before contacting me.

Do you think photography has always been a popular hobby among society, or do you think it's been popularized with the creation and popularization of sites like Flickr?

I don't think Flickr popularized it, I think the advent of digital photography popularized it. I know a lot of people who have had film cameras for a long time. I started out with film cameras when I was a kid, did lots in High School too. Many people didn't stick with it because of the cost. Cameras are expensive, film is expensive, and prints are expensive. Digital cameras cut out a lot of that cost and made it easier to share photographs. I think that sites like Flickr are a response to that, not the other way around.

Do you have any favorite Flickr contacts whose photography always excites and amazes you?

I don't have any one favourite, no, I have too many to call one a favourite! There are some whose work I look forward to seeing every day, for several reasons. Christopher Evans takes beautiful photos with low-tech cameras. Lung Liu takes amazing square format portraits and landscapes. John Goldsmith is one of the best street photographers in Vancouver. Peter Taylor is a fantastic photographer, only made better with his use of studio lights and photoshop.

I could go on but I don't want to keep you here all day.

What do you like to photograph the most? I notice a lot of architecture, nature and exterior type photos in your collections.

I do end up shooting a lot of architecture, nature, and landscapes, but I don't think there is any one thing I like to shoot most. I just like to find things and people to shoot that you might not immediately think of as interesting or beautiful, and try to capture them in interesting and beautiful way.

Matt's work can also be seen here.