Matt Eich has been referred to as the future of photojournalism. His talent behind the camera exceeds the quality found among many professionals, and especially that of the 21-year-old’s peers. That talent earned the 2006 Missouri School of Journalism College Photographer of the Year a summer internship at The Oregonian. His photographs achieve a distinct intimacy with its subjects; a closeness that almost eliminates the expected.
Every shot, if of prison inmates living their last years in “A Place to Die,” or of families outside their trailers in “Carry Me Ohio,” is a portrait that serves as black and white or color windows into an untold story.
In his most recent story, which has only just begun to unfold, there has been no distance between photographer and his subject to overcome.
On Jan. 31, Eich, a student at Ohio University, began documenting the most important story of his life. He and his wife, Melissa, found out she was pregnant, and his life and career aspirations altered considerably.
“It’s got to be what bungee jumping is like or jumping out of an airplane…you just get to the edge and you are like, okay, and you just let go, and whatever happens is going to happen,” Eich told the camera in the documentary of the couple’s pregnancy, “Love in First Person.”
The birth of his daughter, Madelyn Avery, and the marriage to Melissa has only changed, not halted, his future in photography.
“Prior to this whole thing I thought I was going to try making it as a freelancer,” Eich said. “It didn’t matter to me where I lived or if my shoes were falling apart.
“I still don’t really care about my shoes, I just want my kid to have shoes,” he said. “Now I just want to be there, and that will take some restructuring of priorities to make it work.”
In actuality, the tiny addition to their family provides a needed balance to his creative career.
“I don’t believe photography alone is a fulfilling outlet,” Eich said. “Like in any relationship, you need some space every now and then to step away, to appreciate other facets of life and other forms of art.”
In another one of Eich’s series, “A Silent Bond,” he documents the life of an Ohio father with two deaf, identical twin daughters. This low-income, four-child family introduced Eich to more people in the neighborhood, which has given him more access to families, individuals’ stories and an intimacy within the community.
To achieve an accurate narrative with his subjects, Eich often first needs to go through a “door-to-door salesman approach.” He has chosen to photograph areas with social issues as part of his ongoing project of documenting rural poverty in Ohio.
Future projects may include stories of “Ohio’s coal mining, rural prostitution, drug cropping and hardcore drugs,” Eich said.
Eich draws inspiration from his peers at Ohio University. He has a strong community of student photographers who produce great work and push Eich to bring his own work to the next level, he said.
Melissa, studying Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences at Ohio University, is proud that Madelyn has already shown an interest in the camera.
The baby already has seemed to recognize that she is in for a life with a photographer for a father. On one of the first days of her life, Melissa said, a tearful fit was interrupted “when she heard the clicking (of the camera), she stopped crying and turned toward the camera knowingly.”
Eich’s most recent project outside his family was a trip to Mexico City to photograph the indie rock scene for Fader Magazine.
“These kids party like it’s their job,” Eich said on the intensity of his subjects.
Eich’s dual role as a photographer and young father forces him to make sacrifices.
“Sometimes there’s part of me…that really wants to go, and just kind of get out of here and do significant work or do something that matters or do something overseas, or travel here or there or that freedom…to go wherever, whenever,” Eich said.
“But it’s something I’m willing to trade in for a steady family life and just the opportunity to be a good dad. You know, I mean, …what’s another award if I suck at being a dad?”
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