Mattgarza.net

A friend of mine recently made a comment regarding my Facebook and social media stream, saying “The question is not what can Matt Garza do, but what can he not do?” If you know me, I’m the last person to ever “toot my own horn” or to consider myself a “jack of all trades.” In fact, that couldn’t be any further from the truth (at least in my own opinion). I feel as if some people (including myself) harbor a lot of insecurity about their abilities, talents or skills (especially relating to careers and making money). There are a lot of times where I think to myself, “I wish I was better at X” or “I should learn Y, so I can make X amount more dollars.” Anyhow, for most of 2011 I’ve made a concentrated effort to focus more on things that I legitimately enjoy doing. Now don’t take this the wrong way, I enjoy my career and consider myself very lucky to have found a job in an industry I’ve grown to love over the years. However, I’ve seen colleagues, friends and family get so wrapped up about their career and the pursuit of monetary gain, material possessions and wealth that they lose all sense of adventure and joy in life. I’m talking about people with raw talent, beauty, and God-given endearing personalities..

Kind of funny that a good friend of mine linked me to a hilarious video regarding “work-life balance” just a minute ago, in the middle of writing this post. While I’m not writing this specifically from a work-life balance perspective, in a nutshell what I’m trying to say is “do something new.” That thing you’ve been meaning to do for so long, but haven’t had the time – make the time. That hobby you’ve always wanted to try, but haven’t had the money because you spend it all on slap chops and shake weights – sell them and do it. That inspiring idea you had while watching a Youtube video, log-out, shut down your computer and go give it your best shot. If it means something to you, and brings joy to your life – that’s all that matters (man, that sounded very motivational-speaker-like).

Anyhow, while I laughed at my friend’s comment on my Facebook wall it made me realize that the results of doing things which I enjoy, always turn out better than those that I don’t. If you know me or follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that lately it’s been a series of goofy photo shoots, time-lapse videos, photography related posts or my pursuit of learning to play the drums. More on these below..

As I continue to learn and improve my photography skills, I’ve tried to have some fun along the way. While my ultimate goal down the line is to become a professional wedding/portrait photographer, I enjoy exploring other creative avenues within photography and videography. If you remember my last post back in January I linked to a video from an amazing photographer (Josh Owens of Mindrelic Photography) – a timelapse video featuring sights around New York City. This was one of those inspiring events in my life where I saw a video which had a lasting impression on me. I saw the challenges it may present to me (both technically and mentally) but knew that I had to take a stab at it. I spent the next four months around the city of Houston snapping thousands of images, all with the hope of creating something which I was proud of. The video below is what resulted and while I know I have a lot of things to improve upon, I completed something which I had no previous knowledge or experience doing, something new.

Since then, I’ve finished two other timelapse videos, one of which was picked up by Kotaku.com – one of the biggest video game sites on the internet.

A few weeks ago at work, I had another idea pop into my head. It started off as a discussion between a co-worker and myself regarding our “Corporate Picture Day.” Once a year our photo club at work will sponsor a corporate picture day, where anyone with $5 and business professional clothes can come and get a new professional head-shot taken for use on your Linkedin/Facebook profile. I found the idea kind of funny and figured I’d put my own spin on it, so I took my own with a more ridiculous approach. The full album is here, but some higher res versions are posted below.

Then lastly, I’ve had a desire for years to pick up a musical instrument – mainly drums. Despite having watching countless drum cover videos, lessons and hours spent drumming on my steering wheel on long commutes to work – I always managed to convince myself out of it. Three months ago, I decided to take the leap and commit to learning how to play. I started a drumming video progress journal that I call “The Drum Vlog” where I profile new techniques, covers and beats that I’ve learned along the process. I bought an entry level kit and started playing towards the end of June, three months ago, and have already come a long way. Check out my introduction video below for some more background, and hit up my channel to see the rest of my videos (I’ve got 13 posted so far, with more on the way).

Check out my new profile on 500px.com as well. I haven’t renewed my subscription to Flickr Pro in quite some time. 500px looks to be my choice for profiling some of my better photography work.

As always, thanks for reading. This week, get out there and try something new. There’s always time to procrastinate, but far more time to regret things you never tried. You never know what may come of it..