Jordan Matter is a photographer, and a popular YouTuber.
He has more than 18M subscribers on his eponymous YouTube channel.
Jordan is also a New York Times Best Selling author.
Introduction-
Jordan Matter was born on 6 October 1966 in New York, United States.
His father, Alex Matter was a talented film director and his work has been showcased at the Venice Film Festival.
His mother, Paula Feiten was a successful model.
His grandfather, Herbert Matter, was a Swiss and a successful photographer and worked on many prestigious projects like that of President Kennedy, Vogue, National Geographic, etc.
Early love for photography-
Jordan spent much of his childhood in his grandfather’s darkroom watching the process of developing the prints.
He was very impressed by the pictures coming to life and thanks to this, he fell in love with photography at a very young age.
A difficult childhood-
Jordan was a shy and skinny child and was bullied for his bright red hair and freckles.
While travelling in bus, other kids used to bully him by tying his hair in knots and when he used to get out of bus, they used to spit on him.
After his parents got divorced, Jordan lived with his father in Malibu, California.
Education-
Jordan majored in theatre arts from the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia.
Here, he met his future wife, Lauren in a French class.
Love for baseball-
Jordan loved playing baseball and played it for the first 21 years of his life.
He was a Division 1 baseball player and was the second baseman while studying at the university.
While in university, Jordan’s first priority was playing baseball rather than anything else.
Career-
After graduating from university, Jordan was missing the adrenaline rush of playing baseball and so, he started his career as an actor.
He was an understudy to Kevin Kilner in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie play Broadway.
Jordan couldn’t act in Broadway.
Later, he acted in a few TV shows and commercials.
Jordan also did a lot of regional theatre.
After acting for a few years, he realised that he wasn’t very passionate about acting.
Deciding to become a photographer-
Once, Jordan along with his girlfriend, rode a bike to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine.
It was a beautiful sunset and as he was on one of the steepest mountains in the United States, he wanted to capture it.
And even though Jordan took out his camera to shoot a picture, he couldn’t, thanks to his lack of knowledge regarding photography.
And on his way down the mountain, he decided that he would take a photography course and become a photographer.
Taking a black and white printing course-
Jordan took a black and white printing course and after he saw his first print being developed, he realised that he is meant to be a photographer.
So, for a year, he enthusiastically photographed everywhere.
Giving up-
Once Jordan saw the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, a famous French street photographer.
During that time, he wanted to become a street photographer in New York.
After seeing Henri’s work, Jordan realised that he could never become a street photographer on par with him as he knew that he had to wait for long hours to take perfect shots which he felt difficult to do.
So, he quit photography.
Working as a waiter-
After quitting photography, Jordan started working as a waiter.
During that time, his fiancé got accepted into a veterinary school.
Jordan was disturbed after realising that after four years, his fiancé would become a doctor whereas he would remain a waiter and this inspired him to once again pick up a camera and become a photographer.
Becoming a successful photographer-
While working as a waiter, Jordan approached actors and started taking their head shots.
During that time, probably he was the only photographer shooting portraits in natural light in New York (he did this because he didn’t have a studio) and almost every other photographer was doing studio headshots.
Thanks to Jordan’s unique approach, he was overbooked and he quickly became very successful.
YouTube-
While working with dancers while writing his book, Sandy Chase, Jordan’s videographer and video editor, suggested he start seriously working on his YouTube channel so that he could avail YouTube facilities for free in Chelsea after crossing 10,000 subscribers.
So, even though he started his eponymous YouTube channel on 21 December 2006, he started seriously working on it only from 2012.
Nia greatly helped Jordan in making YouTube videos.
A successful YouTuber-
Jordan’s 10 Minute Photo Challenge videos became very viral and this made him a successful YouTuber.
The theme of the 10 Minute Photo Challenge is to take a maximum number of shots in 10 minutes.
Also, Jordan’s collaboration videos with Sofie Dossi, a popular gymnast took his YouTube channel to the next level.
He also collaborated with other popular YouTubers like Ben Azelart, Dhar Mann, Addison Rae, etc.
As of December 2023, he has 18.1M subscribers on YouTube and has 2.1M followers on Instagram.
Jordan also has a website.
His work has been featured on the BBC, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, ABC World News, etc.
A successful author-
Jordan became a New York Times Best Selling author, thanks to his book, Born to Dance: Celebrating the Wonder of Childhood.
This book was published on 16 October 2018.
Jordan also published many books namely, Dancers Among Us: A Celebration of Joy in the Everyday, Dancers After Dark and Uncovered: Women in Word and Image.
Fighting against bullying-
As Jordan himself suffered from bullying as a child, he fights bullying through his books and online platforms.
He published many YouTube videos condemning bullying.
Personal life-
Jordan married Lauren on 25 May 2002.
She is a veterinarian.
This couple has a daughter, Salish (the youngest) and a son, Hudson.
Salish is a level 6 gymnast and Hudson is interested in photography and has a YouTube channel by the name, Hudson Matter.
Jordan also does gymnastics and is 6 feet tall and lives in New York.
So, how are you inspired by the success story of Jordan Matter?
Share with me in the comment section below.
0 Comments