#10 – Matthew Colvin

An award-winning war photographer and correspondent, Matthew has covered conflicts on eight different planets in his career so far, and is anticipating heading to Tau Ceti I to cover the civil war that has broken out there. A diligent professional, Matthew is committed to his craft.

Originally born in Regio City on Venus (which has been terraformed by humans), Colvin immediately got a job with the Interstellar Press after college. Originally working in politics, Matthew was on the scene when Ishtar Separatists attacked a trade conference. Matthew’s photographs and reporting from the aftermath were commended, and since, he has been sent to planets far and wide to cover conflicts there.

Colvin describes the most important part of his job as bearing witness to conflicts across the galaxy, battles and fights that would otherwise go unknown. He is immensely ambitious, but also committed to the power of photographs to tell a story that words simply cannot.

Colvin finds himself compelled to cover warfare because of his growing abhorrence of it. He respects soldiers, but views their work less as a function of pride and protection and more as a unfortunate necessity of a species that seems that it will never grow past war. But if his photographs can allow people on planets light-years away from the conflict to understand what is going on on the ground, all the better. He has been embedded with the armies of invading empires, with rebels and insurgents, interviewed generals and despots, and has been shot once.

Matthew’s greatest trouble now, one that his editor tries to remind him of constantly, is that he finds himself increasingly unable to simply document some of the atrocities going on around him, when his job is not to get involved. He has never picked up a weapon to fight for one side or the other, but he has stepped in on behalf of civilians caught in the crossfire several times.

Matthew is currently living with a addiction to painkillers, a result of the time he was shot and the incredibly painful rehab he went through after the injury. He hides it very well however, and only his editor, Penelope, knows of his problem.

Even with the wonders of digital photography available to him, to create 3D images for viewers, Matthew always has a simple, 35mm camera on his person, should something go wrong with his digital camera.

Category: 2012, Scifi