Who I am
My name is Matt and I live in Georgia, USA with my beautiful wife, and my two awesome kids. I have a deep passion for creating with excellence. I used to be a web designer(10 years), professional photographer (7 years)and graphic designer(12 years). (I also own a few other businesses, one of which is called Sons of Sawdust, you can find that business on Steemit here: @mattofsawdust) Over the course of my photography career I took over 1 million photographs!!! Most of these photos sat on hard drives in my closet. So, I had the idea that I wanted to give them away for FREE! I started researching how to do this and found that I was not alone. There were many other photographers that were in the same boat as me. So, I created a website called Public Domain Archive where myself and other photographers could freely give away our high quality photography as free stock photos.
Why public domain?
I've always loved incorporating high quality photos in my web/graphic designs. Even as a photographer there were times when I was doing a mock up and I didn't have the time to go out a do a photo shoot. So, I started searching for places that I could grab a high quality photo and use them without having to pay for a royalty or license. This lead me to the discovery of the Public Domain license and public domain images as a great resource. When a photo is released into the Public Domain, it is free forever, to anyone, for any purpose. The problem is, there's no one place to go and find tons of high quality public domain images. The sites that do have good images are hard to find and I always forget the domain name of these public domain resources. So, I set out to change that! I created PublicDomainArchive.com as a repository where I archive the highest quality public domain images that I find across the web. A hub for all high quality public domain images. I also wanted to create a website with a minimalist design that keeps the focus on the images. Since starting the site a few years ago, I have received millions of visitors and hundreds of thousands of image downloads!
What we are not
We are not a stock photography website like Shutterstock or Dreamstime. We are a public domain image repository. We are a site where you come to explore and discover photographic treasures. A place to find inspiration and photography that you can re-use in your creative projects. If you are expecting shutterstock, you will probably be disappointed. We aren't trying to re-create the wheel, we are trying to create one place where you can come to be inspired to create something amazing. I hope that you will join me on this journey as I try to create an amazing website where you can explore thousands of high resolution public domain images.
We need your support
I discovered Steemit recently and realized that this would be the perfect platform to be able to share my photos and possibly be able to make a little bit of Steem for the effort and so, I am excited to be here and to be part of this community! It is challenging to run a website and only generating revenue through ads, my hopes are that Steemit will provide the opportunity for me to be able to pour more time into taking incredible photos and giving them away for free! Your upvotes and resteems will enable me to help more people just like you. Thanks for keeping this in mind. Thanks again for stopping by and thanks in advance for sharing me with your friends!
Here is my first free photo. You can have it and use it anyway that you like! I took this photo in Chicago, IL while on a trip with my wife for her 30th birthday. Hope you like it!!!
Welcome to the Steem universe man ;)
As a web designer and designer in general you should check @utopian-io - It's a place rewarding good open source contributions big time!
As far as it comes to your pictures, Steem is a great place for #photography anyways, no need to give you too much details there!
Resteemed you for a little publicity! Greets ;)
PS: Love that beard - no homo ;)
Thanks for the heads up about @utopian-io. I'll check that out right now! Thanks for your kind words and for the resteem as well. Glad you like the beard! Haha! #nohomo
Nice to meet you. Welcome.
My best wishes are with you. You got great photography skill :)
Thanks @rahulsaini! I appreciate your compliments!!!
This is really great what you are trying to do/already doing!!!!
Not everyone is ready to just give away his work for free so I really appreciate it! Thank you very much for that!
I would really like to help you but the only thing I can do right now is to resteem and upvote even if it won't bring you enough money/steem ^^
Anyway it was nice to meet you and I am waiting for some photography from yuo ;) Welcome here on steemit!!!
Thanks so much for your nice comment and for resteem/upvote! More photos coming...
Welcome to Steemit! Please share more of your pictures here. I hope you enjoy here:-)
Thanks Mike! Happy to be here!!!
Welcome to Steemit the wide community. Waiting for your new post, hope soon it will be their 😊
Thanks Angsss! I'll be trying to post at least a few free photos every week.
Greetings From Mr. Crypto. I really enjoyed your introduction!
Please help us grow @rehab22 Thank You!
Thanks!! I like your blimp!!!!
Welcome to steemit man! Can’t wait to see more pictures!
Thanks brother! Happy to be here. More photos coming soon...
Great intro, Welcome to this Steemit Family ! It is a great community. i hope you go enjoy here. keep it up. @arvindkumar please upvote & follow me
Thanks!!!
welcome to this community ...hopefully you can reach what you want on this community ...
Thanks! I'm looking forward to it!!!
hello matt...
nice to meet you man..
welcome to steemit...
thanks for sharing your story & photograph with us dude...
feel free to follow me at @alamshaheb2018
Thanks man! Just followed you. Looking forward to keeping up with you.
Good to have you!
A guy i know on one of the Disord servers was talking about building a platform directly off of the Steem blockchain for exactly that purpose. If you'd like, i can send you the Discord invite. Im not sure how far along he is with it.
Thanks man. I'd love to connect with him. Please send over the invite!
Here is the DIscord link: https://discord.gg/HxqHpRP
I haven't been able to reach him yet, but it may be that he isn't on there that often. Keep up the great work and ideas!
You definetly deserve some rewards sir!
Thanks so much!!!!
You should definitely enter my latest contest!
https://steemit.com/contest/@anthonyj/usd6-66-sbd-for-666-followers-contest-or-thousand-word-visuals
Sweet! I'll check it out and see if I have anything to offer. Thanks for letting me know about the contest!
I love the attitude of giving so much value for free, Matt! You can bet I will be using and sharing Public Domain Archive!
Thanks glad you found my info useful!
Welcome aboard. Looking forward to what you share!
Hey man, I'm Oatmeal Joey, and I love your beard.
Thanks buddy!!!
Hello friend, and Welcome!
@Slothicorn Loves You!
We're a collective that's all about spreading knowledge about blockchain technology, and artistic expression in the Creative Commons.
A little bit different of a spin on a much loved topic! Freeing the art! Building Community! Incentivizing Creation of Crypto Art in the Creative Commons.
... and so Slothicorn was Born
Check out that post for more information.
We're happy to see you here :)
Thanks I'll check that out. Happy to be here.
Welcome and thanks for sharing! A link to your post was included in the Steem.center wiki article about Public Domain. Thanks and good luck again!
Yes! Open source and public domain are what help artist to be more creative and awesome. Good Karma too!! Thanks for the warm welcome!