Meet Matthew Engdall | Automotive and Pet Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matthew Engdall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matthew, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started my photography business because I wanted to combine my two passions together, and honestly, try to make it a profitable venture. So I started Matt Engdall Creative, LLC and labeled it under the business type of Design and Photography services. Although I primarily do automotive photography (the two passions I mentioned earlier), I recently added Pet Photography and am slowly branching into adding Portraits to my list. Here’s the thing I could have never predicted though… I have met so many amazing people, photographers and car owners alike, and made such meaningful connections, that simply networking, which I used to have such anxiety over, has become the core of my career, and the crazy part, I LOVE IT. I strive through my work to make sure my clientele knows that I care about them and that I will do my upmost to make the experience of working with me an enjoyable one. That’s what keeps me going, knowing that with every experience, I’ll have the opportunity to grow as a person and hopefully make my next client’s experience of working with a photographer, one to remember.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Throughout my life, I have had a lot of trouble starting with a new idea and getting work done. I have been living with ADD for a while now, which has added it’s own set of challenges. Starting and finishing large projects has been one of the biggest challenges. It typically starts with a big idea and a rush of energy to get it going, but somewhere around the middle mark, my energy or excitement for the thing will fizzle out and I will save it to some random file on my computer, thinking that I’ll come back to it, but often not seeing it again unless I’m clearing out space on my hard drive. I studied graphic design in college, made it my life’s goal to be a graphic designer and work for a big agency or start my own, but after working for a handful of clients over the years, that slowly fizzled out and my passion for designing (for work) fell through. Photography, specifically automotive photography, changed all of that. I have always been a car fanatic, grew up playing with HotWheels and loved just about everything with four wheels. When I started going to car events for fun and taking pictures, seeing the photos after they were developed (I started with film) was one of the most incredible feelings and sparked the idea that this could really be for me. When I made the switch to digital photography in late 2020 and started attending car shows more frequently, I found that each car meet was unique and there was always something new to see, something I had never seen before, and now 3 years later, I’m still seeing autos I’ve never seen before and absolutely love photographing them for fun and for clients alike. I love the networking aspect of my work, going to a show, finding some hot muscle car or slick exotic sports car and talking with the owner, learning about it, taking some photos, and posting them to my Instagram and portfolio site. It allows me to not only improve my interpersonal communication skills, but also allow me to focus my ADD-mind on producing a great product that I can finesse to fit a style all my own.

If there was anything specific that I would want the world to know about my story, it’s this: Proceed as if success is inevitable.

For a while, I didn’t know where my creativity would take me and I thought I was stuck in a rut. All I needed was a change of scenery, slightly different tools, and a positive mindset to keep moving, and now I’m on the way of building up my own business that I couldn’t be prouder of.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First of all, what a great question! Favorite places… I can think of so many, but if I had to choose the essentials… Let me categorize them for you:

First Watch at Park Central is my #1 go-to for their juices and Breakfast. I would highly recommend their A.M. Superfoods Bowl, which comes with their artisan bread with almond butter and a side of their Million-dollar Bacon. Get those with their Kale Tonic juice or Morning Meditation juice, and you’re golden for the morning.

For Lunch, I would zip over to Zookz at Uptown Plaza. They had a fancy contraption that makes round, closed sandwiches that are made to order. Get a #60 (essentially a pulled pork sandwich) or a #23 and a side of their potato salad and an apple-flavored Izze and that’s the best. For lunch, I would also recommend Lil O’s over on McDowell and 5th Ave in Phoenix. They are the sister restaurant of a local favorite brewpub called OHSO (a.k.a. Outrageous Home-brewer’s Social Outpost) and they have a pretty incredible BBQ burger with some of their signature sauce that are *chef’s kiss* GOOD. If you enjoy a good beer, get a pint of Popcycle (yes I spelled that right) Blonde and you’ll be set.

For Dinner places, it depends on if it’s a casual dinner or out for a nice, sometimes pricey, meal. If it’s a casual setting, I would recommend heading to Scottsdale for Modern Market Eatery right next to the Mercedes dealership, across from Scottsdale Fashion Square. They have a bánh mì sandwich and some house-made potato chips that are really good and they have an amazing cucumber or carrot lemonade that are refreshing. Now, if you’re looking for a high-end dining establishment, look no further than Hillstone restaurant on Camelback near the Biltmore Fashion mall. Hillstone has been around for a long time and were one of the first restaurants to modernize the open-kitchen design where the entire seating area has a view into the kitchen to watch the food being prepared. They have a lavish, natural interior with stone pillars, wooden features, real plants and water features, as well as a koi pond out front. They have a few great items on the menu, such as their House-Made French Dip or the Ding’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich. If you want to enjoy a drink, I recommend the Jackrabbit or the Crush.

If you’re looking to just sit back, chat, and chill with a coffee and a pastry, I recommend Copper Star Café and ordering a Cubano, or head to First Draft Book Bar, nestled inside the Changing Hands Bookstore, and order a Chai Latte.

Now, if my friend wants to see a bit of what I do, I would invite them to join me for a Cars & Coffee event, where I spend most Saturdays, either at FourTillFour Café in Old Town Scottsdale, High Street mall for Highline Autos’ event every first Saturday of the month, or over at The Vault of Scottsdale in North Scottsdale.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are several people that I want to thank, but probably more than anyone, I want to thank my friend Brandon Locket, Optix.jpg on Instagram. At the end of 2020, when things just started to open up again and we could actually go places, I knew I wanted to make an effort to get out to car shows and really start developing my digital photography more, knowing that I would have to start somewhere if I were going to start my business soon. I made an Instagram and started following some photographers in the area, car companies, etc. Brandon was one of those people and through seeing his work, I started asking some questions about how he does what he does with car photography. We ended up meeting up at a car show, and he gave me so much amazing advice that I quickly was able to figure out not only my own style, but a way of using my camera and editing software to confidently launch my business knowing this is what I wanted to do. He helped me realize that a business as a freelance photographer was possible for me. Now, I would consider us great, if not best friends. We have made a pact to always try and boost up each other’s photography business and attend as many shows and events together as possible. Brandon gave me so much, that I can’t think of anyone better to shoutout than him. Thank you Brandon.

Website: https://mattengdall.photo/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattengdall_photo/ @mattengdall_photo

Image Credits
Matt Engdall Creative, LLC