#1 7 Oct 1943, Ottla Kafka, Beloved Sister Of Author Franz Kafka, Was Gassed On Arrival At Auschwitz After Volunteering To Escort A Group Of Orphans From The Terezin Ghetto So They Wouldn’t Be Afraid
#2 Sabina Chebichi, Kenyan Athlete Who Won A Race In 1973, Barefoot And Wearing A Dress
#3 Aboriginal Tasmanian Fanny Cochrane Smith Singing Into Her Phonograph In 1903. Without Her Efforts To Preserve Her Culture, We Would Have No Audio Traces Of The Tasmanian Language. Pretty OSC
It’s hard to list all of Holly Mateer’s accolades. As the co-founder of M&G Wedding Photography, she’s made a name for herself as a trailblazing creative and a leader in the photography industry. Mateer specializes in documentary wedding photography and family photography, and has won several awards for her work.
Among the most recent are the “This Is Reportage International Wedding Photographer Of The Year 2023 & 2024” award and the “UK Wedding Photographer Of The Year 2024," awarded by Masters Of Wedding Photography.
The woman also known as The Wild Child Photographer racked up 14 awards from This Is Reportage last year alone, and was named Number 1 on their Top 100 Photographers in the World 2024 list. So it’s an understatement to say that Bored Panda was thrilled to be able to chat to this phenomenal photographer.
#4 The First Interracial Marriage In Mississippi, 1970. 3 Years Earlier, The 1967 Loving V. Virginia Scotus Ruling Legalized Interracial Marriage In The US
#5 The Only Known Photograph Of An African American Union Soldier With His Family. Circa 1864
#6 Dance Teacher Patsy Swayze, Center, With Her Daughter-In-Law Lisa Niemi And Son Patrick Swayze, 1978
“Photography captures moments in our world and records them for history,” Mateer told us during an enlightening interview. “It may be an amazing event, a famous person, the people in the street or just yourself quietly at home. It may be an elaborately staged or an unposed image. The photograph – whether it's a print or a digital image – will be looked back on and will keep memories alive. It's a window on the world and there's nothing else quite like it.”
"A photograph can also depict things that went unseen at the time: a gesture, an expression, the fall of shadows on a wall," says Mateer, adding that through her unique storytelling approach, she can reveal something new and unexpected to the viewers of her work.
#7 Jane Russell Shows Her Co-Actress Marilyn Monroe (At The Time, Jane Was The Bigger Star) One Of Her Talents: Drawing. Here She Draws An Sketch Of Monroe. Result At The End. This Was During The Filming Of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," 1953
We were curious to know how photography has evolved throughout history. "The norms of photographic portraiture stem from Victorian times when photography began. Then, over 150 years ago, due to the limitations of cameras, portrait subjects would have to sit very still, looking at the camera, for the long exposure time that was needed to capture the image. It was all very formal," revealed Mateer.
"With the advent of small cameras and faster film from the 1930s onwards, another mode of photography, the informal, developed – families could take snapshots of their life. And of course, this also allowed photojournalists to capture images quickly and discreetly 'out in the field.'"
#10 Beautiful Ukrainian Girl In National Costume, 1935. Photo Before And After Restoration
Mateer says that despite the advancement of photography, children are still often conditioned to respond in what she calls ‘a photo way’ – keep still, smile or don't smile, look at the camera – in, for instance, school photographs. Family photos showing a group with two or three generations are still taken, she says, adding that the poses are usually a little more relaxed than in Victorian times.
She says these stoic, put-together poses don't depict family life in a truly authentic way. And that's why she's made a name for herself as a wedding and family photographer who embraces the mess, so to speak...
"There is chaos, there is vibrancy, there is life and movement (a lot of movement – children rarely sit still!). So my photography reflects that and has more similarities to reportage and street photography – I'm not interested in portraits, or posing. For me, that doesn't depict people as they really are."
#14 Gertrude Ederle, First Woman To Cross The English Channel, 26 August 1926, Done In 14hr And 31 Min, Beating The Male Record Of 16hr And 33 Min. Photos Of The Day She Did The Record
#15 London, 1940, A Girl Sitting In The Wreckage Of Her Bombed-Out Home With Her Doll
Mateer tells us that a huge part of what she documents at weddings is also about family. Unless the wedding is an elopement. "I'm always looking to capture those family moments at a wedding. Between parents, siblings, grandparents. I know those family moments are so important – the way I photograph a wedding isn't all about the couple, it's about the whole day and the interaction between people," she says.
"The different sides of my photographic practice overlap – and more often than not, I’m documenting real, unscripted family moments. It's an honor knowing those moments will be so important to my families, to my couples, to their families. They become a family heirloom."
#18 In Arviat, Nunavut (Northern Canada), 1949, An Inuit Girl Descends Into Her Ice Igloo House
Mateer is a mom herself, so she's fully aware of what daily life is like around children, and how to work with them. "When I photograph a family – my own, or someone else's – I don't pose people or stage an action," she tells Bored Panda. "I don't take portraits. I never ask a child to look at the camera – it takes them out of the moment."
The expert says her aim is to photograph life as it occurs around her and to freeze moments of real family life. "I don't want to stop a child from playing, or stop a family being themselves," said Mateer. "I think documenting real family moments is so important – I know that I want to look back on all those happy moments, fun moments. But the chaotic moments and even some of those sad moments too. It’s all part of being a family."
#19 Dorothy Counts, The First Black Girl To Attend An All-White School In The U.S., Being Taunted By Her White Classmates At Harry Harding High School In Charlotte, 1957
#20 In The Middle Of A Celebration, A Young Woman From Oaxaca, Mexico, Notices She Is Being Photographed, And Gives A Look To The Camera, 1985
