Matthew Bamberg--Writer, Photographer, Educator
BOOK
Learn How to Sell Photography at Fine Art America and Other Print-on-Demand Websites
Have you have ever considered selling your fine-art photography online but weren’t sure how to go about it, SELL YOUR ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY ONLINE has the answers you’re looking for. Much of today’s fine art photography market is found on the Internet, where collectors have a wide choice of inventory from which to choose. In order to meet buyers where they are, you need to learn the techniques for creating desirable images and getting your work seen on the sites where collectors congregate online. Written by expert photographer/teacher/author Matthew Bamberg, SELL YOUR ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY ONLINE covers everything from shooting and composition to honing your marketing skills and will teach you what you need to know to create compelling fine art photographs and sell them online.
SAMPLE IMAGES
MEMOIR
Stargazing in Coconut Grove: An Astrologer's Child's Journey through Florida Counterculture
My memoir, Stargazing in Coconut Grove: An Astrologer's Child's Journey through Florida Counterculture is complete, a a realistic account of life growing up in Coconut Grove, Florida in the 1960s and 70s is complete, ready for publisher or agent evaluation.
The book chronicles the author's upbringing in and around Coconut Grove, Florida. The book is comprised of a collection of short stories that recount my experiences growing up amidst drastic social changes brought about by the influx of Cuban and other Latin American refugees during the rise of the counterculture movement.
Synopsis
In the memoir, I am Marvin Hammerstein, the main character and narrator. As an eccentric child, I challenge the prevailing Florida mindset through an internal debate about my mother, Eleanor's beliefs and relationships. Throughout the book, I engage in quirky interactions and dialogues with a diverse array of characters, grappling with profound questions about prophecy, religion, and drug use, all while embarking on a wild and unimaginable quest for acceptance.
Currently, I am actively seeking representation for this memoir, which serves as the first installment in a series of multiple volumes. The stories are presented in chronological order, beginning with Eleanor's quips about not having a girl as her third child, and concluding with a thought-provoking conversation about the connection between astrology and death as we journey to college in Tallahassee. Each story incorporates various literary devices, including foreshadowing, compelling themes, vivid imagery, and irony.
Bio
I began my career as a participant in a government cloud seeding experiment conducted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I performed scientific and in-flight tasks in various locations in South Florida.
After moving to San Francisco, I obtained my teaching credential and taught in Oakland Public Schools and the Jefferson School District in Daly City, just south of San Francisco. During this time, I attended San Francisco State University's School of Creative Arts. This program, founded by educator August Coppola, focused on interdisciplinary arts.
I completed my graduate thesis and creative work project on diversity in education for children at San Francisco State University in 1997, then moved again to Palm Springs, California in the early 2000s where I pursued a career in nonfiction writing while teaching education and composition courses at several universities.
As a freelance writer and journalist for the Desert Sun, I contributed articles to various sections of the paper, including news, opinion, features, and religion. I also had two columns: one that featured weekly spiritual profiles of local religious congregations for a year and another titled "One Tank Trips," which focused on Southern California travel destinations and ran for several years. As a writer for Palm Springs Life, many feature stories about architecture and design were published .
During this time, I developed a passion for photography and cameras. I created and sold framed photographs depicting mid-century neon signage and retro architecture for shops and galleries in Southern California. My first book, "Digital Art Photography for Dummies" (Wiley, 2006), a guide for novice photographers on shooting and creating framed photos for sale was published.
Over the next ten years, I authored 11 more how-to books on photography and technology. These books were part of the “101 Quick and Easy Secrets” series published by Cengage Learning.
More recently, I resumed working as a freelance writer for websites and blogs, further boosting the visibility of my writing and art platform. Additionally, I have had several articles published in The Desert Sun.
In 2023, my creative nonfiction personal story, "Pride and Acceptance in San Francisco," was published in the literary magazine Gay & Lesbian Review. The magazine also promoted a podcast supplement to the story in its newsletter and website.
In the classroom, we often think of diversity as ‘important’ in a civic sense, but optional in an "national socialist sense." Without diversity, much of history doesn’t exist. If there’s only one point of view, there few curricular choices. If nobody shows up who has different information, or different social position, or a different agenda or whatever, to challenge that single point of view, reading materials become very selective, which can lead to book banning.
Many stories of the world clash into each other. Classrooms need drama to enlighten students and parents to become involved in real life. Real life is diverse from newly arrived immigrant children to children who are from long lines of American ancestry.
The essence of education, reading, writing, speaking and listening is for each group of people to up against situations that are outside of themselves, and are changed by them. That’s what lights up student, parent teacher and community involvement in the schools.