http://www.lightstalkers.org/matthewratajczak I'm a freelance photographer based in S.E. Pennsylvania, close to Philadelphia, Baltimore and other large and midsize cities. I grew up mostly in Grand Rapids, Michigan where I did kids stuff, got in trouble, raced BMX bikes, played high school football for two years, got in more trouble, grew my hair long, started playing bass guitar, played in some rock bands, excelled in my art classes. After graduation I bypassed a traditional college education and went to music school at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California where I learned how to better play the bass. Then I dropped out, moved back home, played in some bands, taught beginner bass lessons at a local music store and took a lot of fine art photography classes at Grand Rapids Community College. At GRCC I learned many things about different kinds of photography. I decided to pursue a career in photojournalism and enrolled at the University of Missouri. While there I learned, partied, made lifelong friends and did three newspaper internships in Missouri, Virginia and Florida. After graduation I moved to the sunshine state where I worked at two different Scripps newspapers in Naples, Florida and in Stuart, Florida for roughly 10 years. en-us Image feeds are temporarily unavailable due to heavy load on the Lightstalkers servers. Please consider making a donation today so that we can afford to upgrade this service. Fri, 24 May 2013 01:29:13 -0700 http://www.pledgie.com/campaigns/1888