Photographer Matt McDonald

Nov 02

by Matt in News 0 comments tags: Bellingham, groot, guardians of the galaxy, halloween

Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy in Bellingham

Is this blog headline misleading? Yes. Did Bellingham resident Jonathan Lambert spend 45 hours creating an amazing 9-foot Groot Halloween costume? Yes. “The costume took about 45 hours to make and I used styrofoam, super glue, duct tape and plaster to create it,” Jonathan said. He even won the Halloween costume contest and $250 at the Royal on Halloween. I met with Jonny at Uisce in Bellingham and followed him around downtown making stops at the Wild Buffalo, Bobs Burgers and Brew and Glow. We even rode in an elevator at one, which was impressive considering Jonny was about 9-feet tall in the costume.

Oct 30

by Matt in Landscapes 0 comments tags: Bellingham, fall, landscape, pnw, washington, waterfall, whatcom falls

Whatcom Falls bridge

Capturing a photo beneath the old stone bridge above Whatcom Creek with the leaves changing colors has always been on my Bellingham photos to do list and I finally had the chance to do it. It was kind of sketchy to get to the location due to a slippery muddy slope and at one point the tripod connected to my backpack did get stuck in a tree branch. It was worth the muddy shoes though. Here’s two photos from the day on the muddy slope and one from on top of the bridge.

Oct 28

by Matt in Action 0 comments tags: action, Bellingham, football, meridian, mount baker, sports

Whatcom Football: Meridian v. Mount Baker

A missed extra point and a field goal at the end of the game decided the outcome of the Meridian v. Mount Baker football game Oct. 24. Mount Baker’s Liam Short was an absolute beast with over 200 yards, but it wasn’t enough to stop Meridian. Here’s an except of the story from The Bellingham Herald reporter Joshua Hart “Mount Baker’s football team can wait another week to clinch the Northwest Conference 1A title because Friday, Oct. 18, is Meridian’s day. With four seconds left and the Mountaineers up 9-7, senior kicker Joel Escbach stood in front of the uprights with a 19-yard game-winning field goal try lying in wait. The Trojan, who only started kicking this year, waited through two timeouts and an offside. “Butterflies,” Escbach said of what he was feeling. “Everything, playoff hopes, this is all for my team right here.” Escbach hadn’t made a field goal in his football career before. But when Kevin Castro’s run came up a yard short of the end zone on third down, coach Bob Ames called on Escbach.” View the full photo gallery here Read the full story here

Oct 26

by Matt in Action, Magazine Clips 0 comments tags: Bellingham, blaine, football, friday night lights, high school football, sehome

Football Thriller: Blaine v. Sehome

There was one heck of a football game Sept. 26, 2014 at Civic Stadium in Bellingham. It looked like Sehome was going to run away with the game, but that’s not how it all played out. Blaine made one heck of a comeback and took the win in the 4th Quarter. Here’s some words by The Bellingham Herald sports editor Dave Rasbach… There’s no disputing the raw speed of Sehome junior Taylor Rapp, but as quick as he is, he wasn’t the fastest thing on the Civic Stadium turf on Friday, Sept. 26. That honor belongs to the emotional roller coaster Blaine receiver Anthony Ball was on in the closing minutes of the Class 2A/3A Northwest Conference game between the Mariners and Borderites. With about two minutes remaining in regulation and his team trailing by six points, Ball broke behind the Sehome defensive backfield, hauled in a pass from quarterback Nathan Kramme and was running seemingly unchallenged toward the end zone and a 67-yard touchdown that would have tied the game and given his team a chance to take the lead with an extra point. Just a split second later, Ball’s dreams were dashed when Rapp refused to give up […]

Oct 21

by Matt in Magazine Clips, News, Portraits 0 comments tags: Bellingham, bellingham herald, football, high school, whatcom county

Whatcom County Football Preview Portraits

Been kinda busy hunting for apartments in Seattle, buying a new car and preparing for the new job at DB Skimboards/DB Longboards, but I need to catch up on some blog posts. I also redid my website over the course of the weekend. I have really enjoyed my time capturing football photos this season thus far and before the season began I had the opportunity to meet some of the players. I spent a week capturing portraits of Whatcom County high school football players for the 2014 Bellingham Herald Football Preview section. I also ended up designing the cover of the special section also (you can see that above). Below you can see some of the portraits that ran inside the special section.

Sep 25

by Matt in Landscapes, News, Travels 0 comments tags: Brooklyn Bridge, cityscapes, landscapes, long exposure, Manhattan, new york, nyc

New York Cityscapes

I made the trip to New York in the spring and finally got through all of my photos. This post featured photos of the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and more. Here’s a post featuring my favorite landscapes and cityscapes captured while visit the Big Apple. All photos are available for prints and commercial use.

Aug 26

by Matt in Action, Magazine Clips, News 0 comments tags: baseball, Bellingham, bellingham bells, bells, newspaper, pnw, wcl, West Coast League

Photos: Bellingham Bells win the WCL Championship

I have been capturing photos of the Bellingham Bells baseball team all summer for The Bellingham Herald. Last season the team won the West Coast League Championship beating the Corvallis Knights 3-2. The Bells finish the season 41-18, the best record in Bells history and the fourth time in WCL history that a team reached 40 wins. It was a fun season to capture photos of and I learned a lot about how to capture baseball. Here’s some photos from the championship game. You can view the full photo gallery here: CLICK HERE And you can read the full story here: CLICK HERE The Bellingham Herald also put together a photo page featuring my photos from over the course of the season that you can see below.

Aug 25

by Matt in Music, News 0 comments tags: Australia, Bellingham, bham, jakubi, live music, Manatee Commune, music, northwest, nw, pacific northwest, pnw, washington, wild buffalo

Austin Santiago’s Birthday: Jakubi and Manatee Commune Live

I have been friends with Austin Santiago for quite some time and I had the pleasure of capturing some photos of his 30th birthday at the Wild Buffalo. The night featured the music of Manatee Commune who dropped a new song and Jakubi an amazing band from Australia. Post by Equal Motion.

Aug 15

by Matt in Action, Magazine Clips, News 0 comments tags: action, dayjob, fair, lynden, northwest washington fair, rodeo, sports

Lynden Rodeo Photos

I have never captured photos of a rodeo before, but that all changed this week when I was sent to the Northwest Washington Fair in Lynden, Washington for The Bellingham Herald. Due to an early deadline I was only able to capture photos of the first 30 minutes. You can view the full photo gallery here at The Bellingham Herald and a few below: Photo Gallery

Aug 12

by Matt in Music, Travels 0 comments tags: darrington, festival, meltdown, music, music festivals, starfucker, strfkr, summer meltdown

Summer Meltdown Festival 2014 Photos

I have attended the Summer Meltdown Festival for the past three years and for the past two years I built and maintained their website SummerMeltdownFest.com. I also have captured photos at the festival and have been providing them with photos for marketing purposes. Here are some photos I captured while at Summer Meltdown 2014 featuring StrFkr, Black Joe Lewis, Whitehorse Mountain, of friends and the campground.