Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Borchert.
Matthew, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Man, where do I even start? I’ve always lived out here in rural western Minnesota – Madison / Marietta area – and honestly that’s where it all started. I wasn’t trying to be a “photographer” at first, I just couldn’t stop looking at the sky. The sunsets out here are insane, the storms are even crazier, and when you get a clear night you get the Milky Way and the northern lights right over the cornfields. I started shooting that – just me, pulling over on a back road because the light was doing something ridiculous.
That became M. Borchert Photography. For a long time I was just the landscape guy – those dramatic rural sunsets, the reflective ponds after a rain, stormy roads, mammatus clouds, foggy mornings, moon shots. I got obsessed with the technical side too – I recently posted that demo with my Sigma 150-600mm just pulling the moon in closer and closer. I’ve also been playing with FLIR thermal at night just to see what’s out there in the yard.
Over the last few years it really grew beyond just sunsets. I put together that montage of my favorite Midwestern work – landscapes, auroras, Milky Way, small-town scenes – and that really is the core of what I love. But people started asking me to shoot other things, and I said yes.
So I went into concert photography – I shot that black-and-white rock show that was just pure energy, I covered Terri Clark at the Big Stone County Fair in Clinton. Then dance – those flashback dance reels with leaps and splits in an industrial studio. Rodeo in Clear Lake – bull riders at Crystal Springs. Freestyle motocross and ATV guys flying 30 feet in the air. I realized I love the challenge of freezing a moment that’s gone in a tenth of a second, whether it’s a bull rider or a dancer.
2023 was kind of a turning point. I made a recap reel that year – magazine covers, a bunch of ‘Photo of the Day’ features for my northern lights and storm work, and Best in Show ribbons at the county fair. That was the first time I really thought, okay, maybe I’m actually good at this.
And then I wanted to give back locally. I’ve been doing these donation-based portrait sessions at the Prairie Arts Center in Madison – set up a moon backdrop, mugshot props, a DIY selfie station, just make it fun and weird for people. I did one recently where a couple kissed in front of the big moon and even though turnout was low, it was just a great time. I even did the whole newspaper-style flyer for it.
The other piece that’s become huge for me is mental health advocacy. I was asked to speak at the “Coffee and Connections” event in Ortonville for Mental Health Awareness Month with Mike Frisch. I shared my own recovery story, wore that silly anti-depression T-shirt and brought my framed prints to show. I was nervous as hell before it, but talking about how photography literally saved me – gave me a reason to get out of bed, to go chase light – that connected with people more than any photo ever has.
I even got nominated for Johnny Depp’s “The People’s Artist” competition this year – my quote was that art brings hope, and I really believe that.
So from beginning to end? I started as a guy in a small town who couldn’t stop staring at the sky, became a landscape and storm chaser, learned to shoot anything that moves – concerts, dancers, rodeo – and now I’m trying to use the camera to build community here at home. I’m still that guy who will stop because the sunset looks ridiculous over Marietta MN and post it just because I need to share that calm moment.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Ibalways show the pretty stuff – the orange sunset, the full band in black-and-white, the Best in Show ribbon from 2023. But man, there were stretches where I almost put the camera down for good.
The biggest obstacle wasn’t gear, it was me. I’ve been very open about this at the Coffee and Connections events in Ortonville — I wear that anti-depression T-shirt on purpose. I’ve dealt with depression for years. There were times I couldn’t get out of bed to go shoot a sunrise I knew was going to be perfect. I started bringing my framed photography to those events and telling my recovery story because photography is literally what pulled me out. I even won that little ceramic garden gnome named Reginald at a mental health conference and called him my emotional support gnome. That’s not a joke, that’s how bad it got.
And when I posted that flyer about my talk, I wrote that I was nervous and excited — I was terrified. Standing up and saying “I struggle” in a small town is harder than shooting any concert.
The second obstacle is living where we live. I love Madison, Marietta, Lac qui Parle County — but it’s remote. Fog cancels your morning plans, humidity in Marietta make it impossible to be outside, heat index hits 108-115 and you have to tell everyone to stay hydrated and stay inside. Skeeters are so bad you can’t stay out for a Milky Way shot longer than 10 minutes. I have videos of me trying to track a storm north of town with 100mph gusts, telling people to take shelter — that’s real risk.
And the business side in a small town is brutal. I’ve done a lot of donation-based portrait sessions. I make those newspaper-style flyers, I set up the moon backdrop, the mugshot props, the DIY selfie station, I do a whole walkthrough video in the rain — and then sometimes almost nobody comes. I posted one time that despite low turnout, I still had a great time photographing those that showed up. That’s true, but low turnout still stings when you hauled all that gear.
I tried free headshots at Madison Mercantile to build my portfolio, had to update the hours last minute because the venue opened late. I’m constantly asking people to share my flyers, looking for partners to match donations. I posted about losing over 100 followers after I posted a poem about restoring friendships amid social hatred — just for saying we should be kinder to each other. That was a gut punch.
Gear has failed me too. My HP all-in-one threw a Secure Boot violation and then Boot Device Not Found in the middle of editing. I had a computer a guy built for me that wouldn’t run the software, so that was a setback.
And personal loss hits the work. Earlier this year I posted the one-year anniversary of my dog Quila dying — she’s missed every day. When that grief is fresh, it’s hard to go be the happy concert photographer.
So the bad times were mental health, isolation, empty rooms, dead computers, and grief. What kept me going was that first Milky Way photo I took four years ago versus the one I took last week — I posted that side-by-side and said that excitement never ends. I was just as excited with the last one as the first. Find joy in something, never stop learning, and life will never be boring. That’s the line I wrote, and I have to keep reminding myself of it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What do I do? I’m M. Borchert Photography — I’m a rural Minnesota photographer based out of Madison / Marietta. I shoot everything, but if you asked people what I’m known for, they’d say two things: the sky, and the stage.
Specialty 1 is the sky. I’m a landscape and skyscape guy at heart. Dramatic rural sunsets with orange and purple over silhouetted farmland and water towers, sunrise with cherry blossoms in front of a fiery red sky, mammatus and turbulent storm clouds over flat farmland, foggy humid mornings over the white picket fence, the Milky Way — auroras, moon shots with my Sigma 150-600mm, even long-exposure experiments. I have permanent prints hanging in “The Link” at Madison Healthcare Services. People stop me all the time and say, ” aren’t you the guy that takes all the pictures?”. I just grin and answer, yes I am.
I’m also known for storm chasing safely — I do those raw, on-the-spot posts east of Marietta warning people to stay safe, tracking funnel clouds, severe thunderstorm watches. The storms near Marietta, that 11pm / midnight double storm warning — I document it because it’s part of living here.
Specialty 2 is live music and community. That’s become just as big. I’m a concert photographer now. I shoot The ‘Stad Stage — that intimate acoustic room with the guy in the top hat, the female vocalist, the trio laughing between songs — the Americana roots nights with guitar, harmonica, banjo, bass, flute, washboard. I shot Terri Clark at the Big Stone County Fair in Clinton, The Stitches, Charlie and David Roth, Dan Raza, Magdalene Rose, David Nail, Handeen and Associates, The Flying A’s, Matt Fockler, Ken Baker, Bryce Dempcy and sooo many more, theatrical shows the black-and-white five-piece outdoor rock band at night. Open-mic and storytelling nights, Christmas open-mic with the big “MERRY” backdrop.
I also do a lot people don’t expect — professional dance photography with high leaps and splits, bull riding at Crystal Springs Rodeo in Clear Lake, freestyle motocross and ATV aerial stunts, roller-skating community, blue jay on snow eating corn, red-headed woodpecker on the fence where I stayed inside so I wouldn’t scare it.
What I do for the community: I’m known for donation-based portrait events. I make those old newspaper-style “Portrait Edition” flyers, set up the big moon backdrop, mugshot props, DIY selfie station with four backdrops, free walk-in headshots at Madison Mercantile to build my portfolio. I’ve got a display coming up for the SMAC annual celebration at the Merc after the Lac qui Parle County Fair.
What am I most proud of? Not the awards, though I’m proud of them — 2023 was magazine covers, multiple Photo of the Day features for northern lights and storms, Best in Show ribbons at the county fair, that You’re It Magazine macro cover.
I’m most proud of two photos that have nothing to do with awards. One is that top-ten image from Rock the Block 2024 in Madison — the toddler in the blue shirt walking away down that quiet tree-lined street. I called it one of my personal top ten of all time because it captured small-town innocence.
The other is the work that came out of my hardest time. Sharing my mental health recovery story at Coffee and Connections in Ortonville, wearing the anti-depression shirt, bringing my framed prints, talking about how art brings hope — reminding people about compassion, prayer and positivity after a tough night. When people come up after those talks and say “your Lake Farley photo helped me breathe today” — that’s what I’m most proud of.
What sets me apart?
A lot of photographers specialize in ONE thing. I don’t. In one week I’ll go from shooting a bull rider trying not to die, to a dancer mid-split, to a kid at Rock the Block, to the Milky Way at 2am, to a free headshot for a senior at the Merc. That versatility comes from being rural — you can’t survive just doing weddings when you live in a town of 1,500. You have to be useful.
Second, I’m not a studio guy, I’m here. I’m at the chicken dinner fundraiser in Marietta, at Farley Fest with Miss Milbank trying the aerial silks, at the Makers’ Market. My work is in the hospital hallway where nurses walk every day. I build a custom nightclub set for my Youtooz figures and then use long-exposure to light it — I’m a nerd who loves the craft.
And I give it away. The donation model, the free headshots, the “please share this” post when I got cleared to photograph the B-25J “Miss Mitchell” at the Milbank Fly-In. I don’t gatekeep. If the sky is amazing, I pull over and post it with “pause and enjoy a peaceful countryside morning with coffee.”
That’s me. Rural light chaser, concert shooter in the pit, community photo booth guy. If you want a pretty sunset over a cornfield or a sweaty, tattooed musician screaming into a mic in black-and-white — I can do both, and I’ll care about both the same.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
So what makes me happy isn’t big. It’s: a peaceful morning with coffee, feeling like I belong to a place and the place belongs to me, being useful without making it about me, and seeing people be good to each other in small, unfiltered moments. My mom, the dogs…my girlfriend Lori, spending time with them without a camera in my hand. Those times are special, when I get to create memories for myself instead of capturing someone else’s.
That’s the stuff I remember when the rest is noisy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @mborchertphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1MRmExKT6F/
- Youtube: @MBorchertPhotography
