Meet Matt Sims | Photographer & Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Sims and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, what matters most to you?
First, let me say that I am not a super risk-taking entrepreneur who built a wildly successful business from scratch. But I am a person who purposefully sought and found a work/creative life balance that has brought me great joy and many opportunities for exploration.

One unifying idea I keep coming back to is: “Our time on Earth is so limited – what are you waiting for?” At the end of your life, you won’t regret your failures or your projects that weren’t perfect, but you will regret not trying. You will regret letting mundane tasks and worries interfere with your creativity and your productivity. You will regret making decisions out of fear rather than excitement.

I started my creative journey as a music conservatory graduate attempting a career in rock and roll as a guitarist and songwriter. I played live frequently and released a CD of original music that got very limited play on SiriusXM radio, but never got the career breaks I was hoping for. Still, music brought a certain type of creative fulfillment, so I continued it out of love for the activity even though I took a job with a government agency to pay the bills. I always identified as a creative person – as a musician – not a government worker, and I came to realize that it was more important to define myself in terms of personal relationships and creative pursuits rather than through what I did for a paycheck.

As I moved up the ladder from soul-sucking jobs to ones that challenged my intellect while rewarding me better, I dove back into photography, an interest from my college days, and began honing my skills. I also began to travel as frequently as possible to remote places to visit and photograph people in hard-to-reach areas of Nepal, Peru, Panama, Laos, Kenya, Chile, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar, among others. I gradually began to build a body of photographic work that I was proud of and had my photographs exhibited in small galleries and museums.

When a close friend of mine was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma for the 2nd time, I planned a trip to hike across the Alps alone and raise money and awareness for cancer research. Unfortunately, my friend died, and I completed the journey in his memory. After I returned, I wrote the book PEAKS AND VALLEYS: A SOLO HIKE ACROSS THE ALPS telling about the friendship, the journey, and a little bit about the history of the regions through which I passed.. A few years later, the pro-democracy leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released after 17 years of arrest, and I made several trips to the country photographing the people and landscapes and witnessing their first free election in 50 years. I wrote the book BURMA: A JOURNEY ACROSS TIME about traveling the length of the country by road, river, and rail.

My friend, who was just starting to gain acclaim as a jazz guitarist in New York, never got the chance to fulfill all his creative potential. I know there was much more music in him. Each day I wake up I know there is much more creative potential in me, and I am anxious to get it out there and produce new work. Now that the government job is in the past, I hope to make use of the additional time for projects in music, writing, and photography.

I think it is a mistake to wait for some grand purpose to be discovered or to be revealed to us. If there is creative energy in you now in an area of interest, put your time and resources, whatever they may be, into it. You may change directions later, and that is ok. The best way to show gratitude for this gift of life and time on Earth is to make use of it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
SEE PRIOR TEXT: First, let me say that I am not a super risk-taking entrepreneur who built a wildly successful business from scratch. But I am a person who purposefully sought and found a work/creative life balance that has brought me great joy and many opportunities for exploration.

One unifying idea I keep coming back to is: “Our time on Earth is so limited – what are you waiting for?” At the end of your life, you won’t regret your failures or your projects that weren’t perfect, but you will regret not trying. You will regret letting mundane tasks and worries interfere with your creativity and your productivity. You will regret making decisions out of fear rather than excitement.

I started my creative journey as a music conservatory graduate attempting a career in rock and roll as a guitarist and songwriter. I played live frequently and released a CD of original music that got very limited play on SiriusXM radio, but never got the career breaks I was hoping for. Still, music brought a certain type of creative fulfillment, so I continued it out of love for the activity even though I took a job with a government agency to pay the bills. I always identified as a creative person – as a musician – not a government worker, and I came to realize that it was more important to define myself in terms of personal relationships and creative pursuits rather than through what I did for a paycheck.

As I moved up the ladder from soul-sucking jobs to ones that challenged my intellect while rewarding me better, I dove back into photography, an interest from my college days, and began honing my skills. I also began to travel as frequently as possible to remote places to visit and photograph people in hard-to-reach areas of Nepal, Peru, Panama, Laos, Kenya, Chile, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar, among others. I gradually began to build a body of photographic work that I was proud of and had my photographs exhibited in small galleries and museums.

When a close friend of mine was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma for the 2nd time, I planned a trip to hike across the Alps alone and raise money and awareness for cancer research. Unfortunately, my friend died, and I completed the journey in his memory. After I returned, I wrote the book PEAKS AND VALLEYS: A SOLO HIKE ACROSS THE ALPS telling about the friendship, the journey, and a little bit about the history of the regions through which I passed.. A few years later, the pro-democracy leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released after 17 years of arrest, and I made several trips to the country photographing the people and landscapes and witnessing their first free election in 50 years. I wrote the book BURMA: A JOURNEY ACROSS TIME about traveling the length of the country by road, river, and rail.

My friend, who was just starting to gain acclaim as a jazz guitarist in New York, never got the chance to fulfill all his creative potential. I know there was much more music in him. Each day I wake up I know there is much more creative potential in me, and I am anxious to get it out there and produce new work. Now that the government job is in the past, I hope to make use of the additional time for projects in music, writing, and photography.

I think it is a mistake to wait for some grand purpose to be discovered or to be revealed to us. If there is creative energy in you now in an area of interest, put your time and resources, whatever they may be, into it. You may change directions later, and that is ok. The best way to show gratitude for this gift of life and time on Earth is to make use of it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Although I spend most of my time planning trips far away from home, the DFW area has much to offer including some great restaurants. If friends came to town, I would take them for pastries at the Main Street Bistro & Bakery in Grapevine, before heading to the Dallas Museum of Art if there was a photography exhibit. If not, I would bring them by the Dallas Center for Photography, Photographs Do Not Bend (PDNB), or Samuel Lynne Gallery. For lunch, it would be Vietnamese food at PTT in Arlington followed by some boba tea at Gong Cha in Carrollton. In summer, we would photograph the carnival rides at Trader’s Village, and then head to Thai Charm in Ft. Worth for the area’s most authentic Bangkok style fare.

If an enemy came to town, I would drive them to Oklahoma.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My first book and much of the work that followed was due to my friendship with jazz guitarist Scott Sherwood, and my ability to maintain a healthy work/life balance is due to the love and generosity of my wife Thu.

Website: www.mattsimsphoto.com

Instagram: #mattsimsphoto