About
Matt Kosterman
I’m a photographer based in Chicago, working nationally with people, leaders, brands and organizations.
My work rests on one idea: giving people permission to be seen, through imagery that feels authentic, artful and human.
As a college student, I was drawn to the black and white poster print images of Henri Cartier Bresson, O. Winston Link, Robert Doisneau and Ansel Adams. I thought it would be cool to make pictures like those. My second job out of college in 1992 was with Eastman Kodak Company, where I moved from Sales Rep to Development Engineer to Product Manager in four short years.
I cannot imagine a more fortuitous and fertile environment than Kodak HQ in Rochester, New York. I was able to combine my ten plus years of computer experience (my dad purchased an Apple II+ when I was eleven and I put myself through college writing software) and my nascent passion for photography. My access to very expensive digital cameras (Kodak invented the digital photo sensor), traditional film photography resources and world-leading experts in imaging fired up my imagination and supercharged my skills.
In 1998, after moving to Chicago a year prior, I launched the country’s first all-digital portrait lab, DeltaQuest Imaging, Inc. and quickly grew it to over $1m in revenue. At DeltaQuest we were printing images for some of the country’s leading photographers, including Audrey Wancket, Steve Green, Rod Evans and Antisdel’s, in addition to corporate clients such as the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.
As a budding photographer with two young daughters, I was taking pictures at every opportunity. Some images from a Halloween party my former wife and I hosted in 2005 led to a friend declaring, “These are amazing! You need to sell these.” In mid 2007 Inspired Impressions by Matt Kosterman - a children’s lifestyle photography business - was born.
Over the years, while the subjects on the other side of my camera have changed, my passion for the work has never wavered. My work is diverse because I am endlessly curious about different genres. I enjoy the exploration and refinement process.
The Permission Slip
A few years after my divorce in 2010, I was forced to embark on a very deep healing journey to address many things I was ignoring. One of the outcomes of that journey is the creation of a podcast, called “The Permission Slip”, discussing a wide range of non-traditional “holistic” healing modalities.