Over the Summer I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Merkin. Matt Merkin is from Oakland, California and was embarking on a hitchhiking journey to reside in NYC. I found out who he was through a friends snapchat documentation of them hitch hiking straight across the country. In the videos I noticed Merkin carrying a 35mm film camera around his neck most of the time. I was intrigued to see him carrying it and I wondered if he was a photographer. A couple weeks later, they stopped in Austin and I asked Merkin about his camera. He said he shot street photography and showed me his blog. I mentioned how I shot as well. Merkin inspired and opened whole new doors to photography for me when mentioned street photography. His passion for it was clearly evident when he spoke about it. I had always heard about this concept but never knew anyone who did it. At the time he was carrying a disposable camera from Walgreens with him taking shots to document his time in Austin.
Merkin’s work displays the culture we are growing up in, hence the blog name “Nice Youth Culture.. He lets you in his mind to see what he’s seeing and is very conceptual about it. Merkin will forever come to mind when of when thinking about someone who is passionate about what they create.