Million Mask March - Chicago, IL

Some photos from a recent protest/rally on the 5th of November (hence the Guy Fawkes masks, among other masks). I was downtown for the morning and stumbled upon these guys and gals protesting in the Federal Plaza. I grabbed my camera from my bag and started documenting the group, following them around and speaking with them for a few hours. The group was part of the "Million Mask March" that took place nationwide on November 5th, protesting government corruption, NSA spying, police brutality, and several other current event issues. And while I don't agree with everything they were saying, it was good to see people exercising their first amendment rights and speaking up for what they believe in.

More photos from the morning can be found in a gallery here: http://matttreager.com/million-mask-march-chicago/

Salsa Dancer

A shot from the other night covering a dance party for Groove Korea on the Latino community in Seoul.

Somos Cafe - Seoul, South Korea - February, 2014

Miquel - Seoul, South Korea

A recent portrait of Spanish national Miquel Rossello, founder of Somos Café. When his previous job as a Spanish teacher in Korea ended, Miquel started his own business and opened up Somos, a café and space in the Sinchon neighborhood of Seoul. Offering everything from Spanish lessons to dance parties, Miquel's ambition is to share his Spanish heritage and culture with Korea. 

Shot for Groove Magazine.

Grace - Itaewon, South Korea

Another portrait from yesterday's shoot for Groove Magazine. Grace is a Korean national who spent her early childhood in Argentina, and in the past, worked for both the Mexican and Colombian embassies in South Korea. Meeting a Korean who can speak fluent Spanish was a unique experience, especially in a mostly mono-cultured country like South Korea.

Raúl - Itaewon, South Korea

An outtake frame from yesterdays shoot in Seoul, for an upcoming Groove Magazine article on the Latino community in South Korea. Raul is a co-founder of the Latin American Center of Korea, nestled into the sprawls of Itaewon, in Seoul.

2013 Boryeong Mud Festival

A few weeks ago my wife and I headed to the city of Boryeong, South Korea for it's internationally renown mud festival, an event celebrating the fine qualities of the local mud (clay). Needless to say, it was a bit different than some of the more tame festivals we've attended while in Korea. We arrived to a largely foreign crowd (ie: not Koreans) who were partying like they never left Cancun that one fateful summer. I'll spare my thoughts on representing your home country with dignity while overseas, but as a whole, it really was a blast and I had the chance to meet and photograph some really great people. You can find the gallery by clicking here.

Here's a few photos for the highlight reel:

Joe Wirtheim

As an effort to build my portfolio up with more portraits, I've been taking portraits of friends and acquaintances in my down time in Jeonju. I had been planning on taking an environmental portrait of Joe, owner and artist at Victory Gardens of Tomorrow. His work advocates for sustainable farming practices, such as urban gardening and locally grown produce. I got a fire put under my butt to get a shot sooner rather than later when he approached me about commissioning a piece to appear on the blog TheHorticult.com, as his work is being featured in an upcoming article. We found an urban garden in Jeonju (they're EVERYWHERE) and set to work. Here's some of the finals - enjoy!

BTS - Joe Wirtheim

Behind the scenes from a shoot yesterday with Joe Wirtheim and his company Victory Gardens of Tomorrow for an upcoming feature in TheHorticult.com . I'll share the final selections in a couple days.

Bakken - Day 2

​Some more dailies from todays shooting. Rancher Bert Hauge and a train depot full of oil cars awaiting their precious cargo. More tomorrow!

Rockin' in the Bakken

I'm out in North Dakota this week continuing my personal project on the oil boom that's, coincidentally enough, the cover story of this month's National Geographic. I must be following the right story...

Anyhow, here's a shot from my dailies today - courtesy of a freshly fracked well. Some info for y'all: natural gas that rises to the surface along with the oil, etc. is often flared off as waste. Oftentimes it's not cost effective (natural gas prices are low) to capture it and pipe it out, or more likely in this case, it's impossible to dig the frozen tundra to lay a connecting pipe to send the gas away to a refinery. 

More to come this week - stay tuned...​