Nate Matos

A large and sweeping expanse of various topographic studies from Japan, Similar Observations explores the subtle connection points in the built world.

Softcover with Jacket
288 Pages
154+1 Photographic Plates
8.75 x 11”
Signed + Numbered
Edition of 35

Note: B-Grade Editions will have dents, scuffs or other markings.and are unsigned/numbered.

Photo is a rendering for pre-order use, final publication may vary in size, shape and design.

Linck’s 1949 essay from his book Paulina Preferred borders on a stream of consciousness rambling, complete with punctuation marks abundantly decorated throughout as he attempts to replicate the natural cadence of hearing these ramblings first hand. But throughout the pauses, his mission remains a clear advocation for spending time outdoors and reflecting inward. The required pieces of equipment are listed only as ways to further engage with a space he holds dear, Nature. This capitalized transformation of the word to a proper noun holds reverence, and looks to Natural spaces as a living, but singular entity. 

Linck prescribes that “we drowse before an open fire; a fire from which sparks dart heavenward to vie with twinkling stars, while smoke slowly wreaths upward from a comforting pipe. In all it makes a picturesque scene worth of recording in our book of memories”, and recognizes that we have passed a threshold in our interactions with Nature,This is evidenced by the setting for his piece, a small cabin that feels no further removed than Thorough’s Walden. However, his reconciliation lies in understanding that we cannot pretend to have a fully natural lifestyle and no longer have the ability to return to it. It is momentary, and Nature as that entity is something we must actively seek out.

On Being Alone is not a reflection of time spent in solitude, but a call to action to ensure it is a part of life that we each make time for less we risk losing what little connection we have left.

This edition of fifteen is reproduced faithfully to the original printing. Included are original spelling of some words considered to be typographical errors

Shipping early February

Hardcover
48 Pages
3 Risograph/Screen prints adhered to pages
4.25 x 6.27”
Numbered
Edition of 15

A release in Matos’ ‘Resort Town’ series; each profile of a city is adjacent to a large attraction but is often not the primary focus. These jumping off points are ignored, relegated to places where visitors may find cheap accommodations at the expense of a little further travel.

24 Pages
24 Monochrome photographs
8 x 5.5”
Unsigned
Edition of 25

A release in Matos’ ‘Resort Town’ series; each profile of a city is adjacent to a large attraction but is often not the primary focus. These jumping off points are ignored, relegated to places where visitors may find cheap accommodations at the expense of a little further travel.

As with all publications sold here. Each issue is hand made and there may be slight variations in terms of actual size.

24 Pages
24 Color photographs
8 x 5.5”
Unsigned
Open edition

Littered throughout the American Southwest live housing that has seen a unique form of gentrification. Towns that once offered state routes as a main street, letting passers by choose to stop for the night have been bypassed with freeways just outside of town. Left alone, motels have been repurposed to tourist attractions, abandoned, or used for storage.

‘An Arizona Motel’ is a short photo essay of one of these structures. Sitting behind a simple fence has rooms filled not with people, but instead paint cans and hardware of all types. 

12 pages
10 full color photographs
8 x 5.5” (due to hand-made nature dimensions are approximate)
Signed

The second release of Matos’ ‘Color Theory’ series; ‘In The Middle’ showcases a visual discussion on plants living in urban environments. 

Each release of ‘Color Theory’ features a screen printed front cover. With each release the printing may change due to variances in screen and or ink.

24 pages
22 full color photographs
Hand printed front cover
8 x 5.5” (due to hand-made nature dimensions are approximate)
Signed on inside cover

Issue 2 of CAMP STYLE Magazine. A collaborative publication showcasing off-road, automotive, and camping lifestyle through 4 unique articles.

1: Fez to Merzouga: Two weeks in Morocco on 24hrs notice.

2: Other Quarantine: A short retelling of the meeting up before a meetup.And wondering who else is going to show.

3: Bits of Broken Top: On the morning of our departure at 3:00am I got a text from my buddy, “Let’s cancel the trip, there’s still too much snow on the trail.” We’d end up going anyway.

4: Makeshift Bearings: Reflections on gatherings yesterday and how we’re feeling today.

5: Wild East: On rare occasions heading East will connect you with the West.

6: Fuel and Fire: A segment from ‘The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions’ first published 1859. Written by Randolph B. Marcy.

7: Basecamp: Cooking at Base Camp will always begin with a fire that started the night before.

5.5x8.5”, 84 pages, full color.

Edition of 50.

blandscapes, vol. 3 "WHEN WE WERE YOUNG" is a series of photographs that embody thoughts of earlier times in Matos' life.

Each issue of blandscapes is handmade with hand split paper, laser printing, and two saddle stitch staples. Each issue consists of 32 pages, and 30 black and white images encompassing a single theme that deals into repetition, monotony, and spontaneity.

Learn more about the blandscapes project by clicking here.

Within photography there is one goal that should be held above all others. In looking at the image, we should not only question does it evoke reaction, but through what means? Is a photo able to do more than paint with light, and does it convey enough to stand as a unique language we can speak through?

It is clear that photographs have become a language, unfortunately like spoken languages there are some things that require more effort than a simple translation. Words like this, known as untranslatable words aren’t actually an impossible task to translate. Rather we must work harder to try and define a single word through abstract ideas about what that means. Sobremesa is one of these words.

Sobermesa: On Translating Photographs takes what I have learned throughout this project. What I have discovered and presented of the series, of the pair, and finally of the surroundings within our images. Combining them for what is the culmination of this project and leaves the discussion open after it is done.

Serif & Silver was intended to be different for me than any other project I had worked on. I want this quarterly publication to be candid and open about far more than my work. So often I feel as though we are caught up in the idea of how we should be carrying ourselves as photographers, and even more so as artists. The art we create isn’t the product, we are.

Recently I met with a photographer who has accomplished more with his images than I ever will. He’s the Vice President of Imaging at a large company, it is one you have heard of and probably own products from. The question I wanted to know more than any other was about his life goals; he interrupted me before I could finish my question,

“I always wanted to sell out, I just never could”

A release in Matos’ ‘Resort Town’ series; each profile of a city is adjacent to a large attraction but is often not the primary focus. These jumping off points are ignored, relegated to places where visitors may find cheap accommodations at the expense of a little further travel.

As with all publications sold here. Each issue is hand made and there may be slight variations in terms of actual size.

24 Pages
24 Color photographs
8 x 5.5”
Unsigned
Open edition

Consistently inconsistent, the individuality of a formalized structure bears only minor changes from dwelling to dwelling. Never varying by more than a tree, a fence, or for the boldest, a change of color for the door. This repetition and strive to stand out is what is seen throughout Brooklyn and represented here, in 'A Brooklyn Street'.

28 pages
26 full color photographs
8 x 5.5” (due to hand-made nature dimensions are approximate)

The first release of Matos’ ‘Color Theory’ series; ‘Various Shades Of’ explores the warmth of brown hues found within the man-made landscapes of California and the American Southwest.

Each release of ‘Color Theory’ features a screen printed front cover. With each release the printing may change due to variances in screen and or ink.

32 pages
30 full color photographs
Hand printed front cover
8 x 5.5” (due to hand-made nature dimensions are approximate)
Signed on inside cover

Issue 1 of CAMP STYLE Magazine. A collaborative publication showcasing offroad, automotive, and camping lifestyle through 4 unique articles.

1: Brotherhood: Be alone, out there; together.

2: WABDR: Two imported vans tackling the spine of Washington state.

3: Line List: How to never stop working on a logo and how to create new things in sixteen easy to follow steps.

4: Indisposed: Set your out of office message and step away from your computer for a day or two. There’s no service, and your phone has died. Better rely on a disposable camera that expired some 16 years earlier, or don’t capture anything at all.

5.5x8.5”, 52 pages, full color.

Edition of 50.

blandscapes, vol. 2 "IMAGES ON MY IPHONE" is a series of somewhat random images pulled from my personal phone. 

Each issue of blandscapes is handmade with hand split paper, laser printing, and two saddle stitch staples. Each issue consists of 32 pages, and 30 black and white images encompassing a single theme that deals into repetition, monotony, and spontaneity. 

Learn more about the blandscapes project by <a href="http://www.natematos.com/blandscapes">clicking here.</a>

Despite the areas around us, the ways in which we interact with the world, with art, despite of the focal point, these photographs display their purpose. It isn't the subject that provides the most context in a photograph, but rather the negative space around it. In this space we find the meaning, we find the story, we find the background, and we find the soul.

If we were to remove the subject, the negative space would not be able to exist on its own, surviving only as a mish-mash assortment of smaller less significant focal points our eyes dart around on. We know that space without a focal point is a mess, but it is where we want to live.

The negative space supports the focal point by surrounding it, by stepping back, by giving it a home and a community to reside in.

Unchanged: The Moral Order of Negative Space is a reflection on the areas we occupy. Spaces in the real world, how we interact through communal and private, natural and man made, both in the real world and perhaps more importantly through the photographs we capture.

A release in Matos’ ‘Resort Town’ series; each profile of a city is adjacent to a large attraction but is often not the primary focus. These jumping off points are ignored, relegated to places where visitors may find cheap accommodations at the expense of a little further travel.

As with all publications sold here. Each issue is hand made and there may be slight variations in terms of actual size.

24 Pages
24 Color photographs
8 x 5.5”
Unsigned
Open edition

Presented first at Newspace Center for Photography, TWENTY PHOTOGRAPHS 1.44MB IBM FORMATTED is a companion publication to the live show and interactive display. This beta-stage project is still undergoing change before its final iteration.

The images contained inside are nearly identical, only differing within their titles. It is only in-person that the photographs stored on each disk can be seen.

25 copies were produced in total, 15 are being offered here.

Littlefields Photography Magazine is presented like no other. Through 10 randomly selected prints from a larger series, no two issues are alike, and the stories inside, while pulled from the same book, do not speak the same words.

Issue 15 is a collection of landscapes from Nate Matos. Featuring his work of the American West and the architectural layouts of small town America.

Visit the Little Fields Photography website by clicking here.

blandscapes, vol. 4 "PLACED BY THE GIDEONS" explores hotel and motel accommodations in Northern and Eastern California.

This issue of blandscapes is handmade with hand split paper, magazine printing, and two saddle stitch staples. This issue consists of 32 pages, and 30 color photographs encompassing a single theme that deals into repetition, monotony, and spontaneity.

Learn more about the blandscapes project by clicking here.

blandscapes, vol. 1 "FROM THE DRIVERS SEAT" is a series of images taken from the viewpoint of the driver in an automobile.

Each issue of blandscapes is handmade with hand split paper, laser printing, and two saddle stitch staples. Each issue consists of 32 pages, and 30 black and white images encompassing a single theme that deals into repetition, monotony, and spontaneity.

Learn more about the blandscapes project by clicking here.

Nothing is alone, we are not without our cameras, our cameras are not without film, and film is not without light. It is that light which creates the photograph, bringing it from the real world into a singular place freezing that moment.

This summer we drove for 11 days from Portland to Wyoming, visiting national parks, hometowns, and roadside attractions in the process. The photos you see within this issue of Serif &amp; Silver are from that trip, cataloged and presented to provide you with an experience not of the attractions, but the places in between.

Artifacts : Past, Present and the American Roadtrip explores the remnants of what was previously there and how it ties us to what is next. The images within this collection are linked through their layouts, locations, and themes in ways that formed without premeditation. The stories that are told within the pairing of images, from two different times and often locations that leave something behind in its companion.

In looking at these photos, I ask that you view each alongside its companion. These photographs were not made to be viewed alone, but rather in a paired sequence.