One Never Knows Where 'Getting Off The Couch' Might Lead You

Jen Weening, Technology Integration Specialist: Middle & Senior Schools
Last week, Ms. Stefanescu's and Ms. Weening's Communications Technology classes were lucky to welcome Matt Mendelsohn, a professional photographer based in Northern Virginia, as a virtual guest in their classes as they began their study of photography. Matt's photography experience stretches from covering the Gulf War, the White House, and professional sporting events in his career as a photojournalist to celebrity portraits, weddings, and photo essays. He is also a gifted writer who has turned some of his unique experiences into beautifully-written essays, supported by some of his photos.
When speaking with the classes, Matt focused on the theme of “getting off the couch”. He reminded us that there are stories all around us, just waiting to be told through a camera lens, if only we make the move to get off the couch to find them. He told us two stories that illustrated how he himself had done just that -- got off the couch -- and where they eventually led. 
 
Most recently, Matt has been working primarily as a wedding photographer, whose business all but dried up completely last March. After a month or so of a lockdown filled with puzzles and Netflix, his 11th grade daughter asked him to take a photo of her in her Spring Fling dress which she wasn’t going to get the chance to wear for any special event. This moment with his daughter inspired a massive project called Not Forgotten: Yorktown Seniors 2020, in which Matt went out and, in a socially distanced manner, masked, gloved, and outdoors, captured senior portraits for all 500 members of the graduating class of a local high school who missed out on so many of the rites of passage due to the pandemic. This project, which you can view on Matt’s website, eventually captured the attention of local and national news media and led to writeups and stories on CBS Evening News, NBC’s Today Show, and The Washington Post, among others. 
 
The second story that he told us was of Election Night in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected the first Black president of the United States. Matt was no longer in the news photography business, but at about 10:30 p.m., while watching the coverage on television, was hit with an irresistible urge to go to D.C. and “make a picture” of this historic night. Realizing on his way that he was never going to be able to find parking near the White House, where a massive crowd was gathered, he headed instead to the Lincoln Memorial, where he expected there to be another large crowd. Instead, he found a tiny group of 26 people listening to the coverage around a transistor radio in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln’s statue. The photo that he made that night was published as a tiny thumbnail in The New York Times the next day, but it eventually made its way to the wall of Obama’s office, which you’d think would be where the story ends for a fairly simple, undramatic photograph. However, when Obama published his memoir in November, he actually makes reference to that photograph as being his favourite photo that was taken that night. Lesson? You just never know where “getting off the couch” and making a picture might lead. You can read the story in Matt’s own words here.  
 
We are so grateful to Matt for the generous gift of his time, sharing with our students this important message, and encouraging them to look for the stories that exist all around them. You can find Matt on Instagram at @photomat22, and on the web at mattmendelsohn.com.
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CDS wishes to recognize and acknowledge the land on which the school operates. For thousands of years, these have been the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We also recognize the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe and the Haudenosaunee peoples who also shared this land.  CDS respects the relationship with these lands and recognizes that our connection can be strengthened by our continued relationship with all First Nations, by acknowledging our shared responsibility to respect and care for these lands and waters for future generations.

School Information

13415 Dufferin Street King, Ontario L7B 1K5 
(905) 833-1220 

communications@cds.on.ca
admissions@cds.on.ca

Founded in 1972, The Country Day School is a co-educational private school offering programs in JK-12 and located on 100 acres north of Toronto in King.