About Matt
My Dzia dzia, my Polish grandfather, was the first person to tell me I had an eye for photography. When I was around ten, he let me use his old camera, then bought me a point and shoot of my own as I began pursuing better photographs and stories.
I fell in love with photography and never stopped.
More than a decade behind the camera
More than a decade later, photography remains how I connect with people, wildlife, and the world. I will crawl through mud, get in the water, freeze in the snow, or wait from before light until after dark for an encounter worth bringing home.
Nature is where I return most often, but I have also photographed sports, portraits, drone projects, wildlife, and conservation work. I am always looking for the overlooked angle and the moment that rewards patience.
Photography gives me a way into the world. It gives me a reason to pay attention, and a way to share what I find.
The Crane Trust
I arrived at the Crane Trust as a Science Fellow in 2023, after earning my degree in wildlife biology from Hastings College.
I arrived a job hungry graduate and ended up staying 3.5 years.
The Crane Trust protects, maintains, and cares for nearly 10,000 acres in Nebraska’s Central Platte River Valley, including Platte River, wet meadow, prairie habitat. During migration season, Sandhill Cranes gather by the thousands, Whooping Cranes pass through, and their bison herd moves across the landscape.
For more than three years, the Crane Trust gave me a place to learn, grow, and serve. My work expanded beyond photography into video, editing, caption writing, social media strategy, marketing, and storytelling.
But the relationship was never one-sided. The Crane Trust served me more than I could ever repay. It gave me room to develop my skills and confidence, and it gave me the silence needed for my internal direction to become clearer.
What I’m building now
That experience led to the project at the center of my life right now: a photography book about the Crane Trust and the place it protects and maintains.
The book is being built toward the Crane Trust’s 50th anniversary in 2027. It will bring together photographs made over approximately three and a half years, along with the land, wildlife, staff, fieldwork, challenges, and conservation mission behind the visitor experience.
With gratitude
Thank you to all the people and organizations who have made this journey possible.
I am grateful to my mom, dad, brothers, and my whole family. I am grateful to everyone at the Crane Trust, Hastings College, and Creighton Prep Highschool.
I am grateful to the many teachers, friends, and mentors who have offered their time, encouragement, knowledge, trust, and patience along the way.
Features
- Good Morning America 2026
- Omaha World-Herald 2025, 2026
- Smithsonian magazine 2025
- Photography included in a published book 2025
Science Publications
- Urbanski, M., W. Hamson, and J.D. Wiese. 2026. Shed fur from a reestablished bison herd incorporated into nests of two semifossorial rodents in central Nebraska. Western North American Naturalist 86(3):534-538.
- Baasch, D.M. and B. Krohn. 2023. Whooping Crane diurnal behavior and natural history during migration in the Central Great Plains: Progress Report – Fall 2023. Submitted to Nebraska Army National Guard. PN# NE0NG200012.
Contact Matt
Fill out the form below and I will reach out as soon as possible. Talk soon!
If you prefer to be contacted a specific way, let me know in ‘Message’.