man, singular
vol two
m a t t h e w a l e x
matthew-alex bedingfield
Matt meeting
I honestly can’t remember how we started talking...… I suspect we were introduced through a mutual friend on social media – quite befitting, as he was the first person I’d met who truly had so many Facebook friends. This slightly self-effacing and genuinely lovely guy had a near-gurning grin when you made him smile – which, with my ribbing was often. We simply gelled. He was a really warm, ‘others-first’ person. And the modelling…Matt wasn’t sure he had what it took and had some serious concerns about how the images would turn out. But after some reassurance from me – and bravery from him – we got together, not very far from his home. After I sent him some of the first images, he got back quickly – saying how much he liked them and that he liked how we’d made him look. The shots were soon shared
online. The response he got was great, but being Matt he was genuinely surprised by all the enthusiastic feedback he received. Shortly after this, he sent me a heartfelt message to say how much the images meant to him and how much better they’d helped him feel about himself. I burst into tears when I read it – this was the best response I’d ever had. I won’t claim to know Matt all that well, but in the various times we got together to work, plan or just catch up, he always surprised me with his inner warmth, his crazy rambles and wit and his ability to misjudge how much others loved him. Matt – you may have moved on, but I will never forget you and I have to thank you for the light you brought into my life. These images meant a lot to you – so I felt I should share them with those others who’ll miss you and hopefully help remember what you brought into our lives.
e l t t i l a t o g l l it a After we’d completed a couple of shoots, I suggested he should do something different. He’d seen the projects I worked on and wanted to do something similar. That was the start of a long conversation – we picked it up, put it down – talked around different themes until we came upon the concept of being ‘alien’ – which appealed to us both. We created the concept of the young man who believed that he was born on the wrong planet. One sunny day we got together and created the images that would what became ‘unworldly’ – a series where he played the part of the boy lost on a planet where he considered himself an outsider.
unworld
ly
w e a h t t a l ex m
1993-2015
matthew-alex
b
d l e fi g n i ed
man, singular
vol two
www.butilikeit.co.uk