Welcome to the last MRyan Photography newsletter for 2015.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support throughout the year.

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This month I want to take you back through the best photos from the year that has passed us by so quickly.

We will be back in January with more photos from our adventures from December/January.

To view the photos please click HERE

Please enjoy!

The fourth Veterans Instameet saw us on Sydney's Northern Beaches on a Sunday afternoon in early December.

A group of fifteen of us met at Queenscliff Beach then drove to Long Reef for a beautiful sunset and some steel wool spinning and light painting.

We are looking to hold the next instameet in March 2016 around Circular Quay, Sydney. The Veterans Instameets are organised to get veterans together in a relaxed environment where we can share tips and ideas about photography, but anyone into photography is welcome to come too.

If you are interested in photography and would like to spend an afternoon with like minded people shooting in great locations around Sydney then let me know, email me through the "Contact" page.

To see the images from the last instameet click HERE

November's e-Newsletter
Beaches, Portraits and Instameets

Welcome to the second last e-Newsletter for 2015! How time has flown. November saw me head down to Bombo Quarry to shoot with the Canon Collective which was great fun as well as educational.

This month also saw me do a corporate job for a NGO known as the Australian Refugee Volunteers as well as a family portrait session. I also kept myself busy on the side with the planning of the upcoming Veterans Instameet.

Click here to view the November Newsletter >>

September's e-Newsletter
A wedding, a sunrise, a suit and an instameet.

The first weekend saw me fly into the Gold Coast for a wedding, I was also able to slip in a sunrise shoot whilst there.  We held the third Veterans Instameet in The Rocks, Sydney with the largest turn out yet, 19 people with a total Instagram following of 53,020 people! 

Click Here to view the September Newsletter >>

Did you participate in this years City2Surf and remember getting a photo with the Happy Heart? Chances are I've uploaded the photo to the MRyan Photography Facebook page.
To check them out click on the Facebook link on the right. Email me if you'd like a copy.

I will be down at Bondi Beach tomorrow morning as one of the official photographers for this years City2Surf. Keep an eye out for me at the finish line!
If you get one of my business cards, head over and LIKE the MRyan Photography Facebook page as I'll post the photos there in the coming days.
If you'd like a copy of your photo just shoot me an email with your name and bib number.

There is a new addition that allows you to comment and leave me feedback on my blog posts. Please feel free to do so! Feel free to browse through my Gallery and be sure to follow me on the social media links on the right.

- By Jacqueline Cowell -

He reached for the small, black handheld. Placing his index finger on the button, he raised his arms and selected his target. He pointed and shot. There was something calming about a late Sunday afternoon at Bondi Beach. When the waves met the sunset, it was a photographer’s paradise.

Nine years prior, at just 19, Mathew Bell packed his bags, left his family on the Gold Coast and began training with the Australian Army. It was his childhood dream. A dream resembling that of any young boy as they held tightly onto their favourite action figurine, but unlike most, a dream that stuck with him through adolescence.
“All my subjects in high school were focused on what I needed to do to get into the army. In year 11 and 12 that was the focus,” Mathew said.

Under the third battalion for the Royal Australian Regiment, Mathew was enlisted to East Timor in April 2008 and Afghanistan four years later, spending six months in each as a soldier and paratrooper. Being indifferent to photography, it wasn’t until Mathew said goodbye to everyday luxuries and was faced with sporadic Internet and limited phone access, that he found comfort in the camera. Its message reached a wider audience.

“At first I was just taking photos of the scenery, the people, things that caught my eye - in East Timor, they would tie goats and pigs down to the roof of cars and drive around with them,” Mathew said.

“What I photographed wasn’t newsworthy, but it was what was seen day to day… and I wanted to show everyone back home what we were seeing.”

Through his candid, documentary style, Mathew’s passion for visualising his experiences in the army extended beyond his desire to “keep the world up to date”, and led him to establishing MRyan Photography. He sends out a monthly e-Newsletter to stay connected to his friends, family and followers and continues to share his photographs, recently publishing a special edition for the month of April in light of the ANZAC spirit.

Starting as a Facebook page prior to his time in Afghanistan, the business now has almost 150 000 page views on Google+ and a nomination in the 2015 Liverpool Local Business Awards.

“I was originally putting my photos on Facebook, and the amount of response I had from that was incredible,” he said.
“I had mothers writing to me, saying ‘you’ve changed the way I see the world’.”

Having only ever taken one photography course, Mathew finds value in what he can learn from others. Alongside a fellow veteran, he has picked up the tripod and organised what is referred to as a ‘Veterans Instameet’, in which a point is designated – most recently Bondi Beach – where veterans meet and embark on a group photo-shoot.

“The aim is to get people together, specifically veterans, who share a passion for photography. We all share the same experience: the ANZAC experience, and so we just take photos, hang out, and share tips,” Mathew said.

Now 27 years old, Mathew’s intention to return from the army and pursue full-time photography in Sydney didn’t go as planned. Finding he was only getting work Friday through Sunday, the veteran has consequently spent the last two years in real estate.

“Real estate pays the bills, photography keep me sane. It’s a good balance,” Mathew said.

“The photography helped me get that job. It was half the reason I got it. The other half was because of my military career – the whole discipline side of things,” he said.

Real estate aside, Mathew’s photography is far from forgotten. He has published a collection of his photos titled Afghanistan, which was displayed for six weeks at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and regarded for its honesty and impact.

As for his military career, Mathew hopes to one-day return to the army as a photographer.

“Coming back from Afghanistan, I put my paperwork in to say I wanted to transfer to become a photographer, but there were no vacancies,” He said.

“I think now, the hardest thing would be getting my fiancé to agree to it.”