“What’s the worst that can happen, they kick me out? Okay!” Matt Wolek exclaims as he sits back in his chair, discussing the events surrounding being trapped in a port-a-potty for an hour to avoid security at a Music Festival so he could sneak backstage and take pictures of bands like Mumford & Sons, The Alabama Shakes, and Dawes.

If he’s not breaking into a music festival or exploring back streets in Baltimore and South Philly (that most people typically avoid) Matt Wolek, an Eastern University senior, is more often than not editing or taking photos. His most recent photography exploration is a year-long project he is calling the #justamomentproject . In this project, Wolek takes a photo every day for a year, a snapshot of a moment from each day of his life.

“[these moments] might not mean a lot to somebody, but these little moments make me think “Wow, I’m happy I have that.” It shows me that the little things in life are really important.”

Wolek had seen other photographers pursue a “photo a day” challenge, and it inspired him to push himself to create a project along these lines and to be creative every day. His goal was to be taking pictures and pursuing photography on a daily basis.

“We don’t really have an art program here [at Eastern,] in the summer I was surrounded by a community of photographers, but at Eastern...not so much. It was a way for me to push myself to be better since that community is at home.”

He doesn’t just have one project, Wolek has multiple projects, some of which are still in progress. One of these projects is called the “Stow Away Project,” as mentioned at the beginning of the article. Wolek snuck backstage at a rock festival and hung out with bands to take some behind the scenes photos of the bands.

“My passion is candid photos, but no one ever sees behind the scenes, they only see what’s on stage.”

Among these projects, Wolek also has a project focusing on various notorious cities such as Baltimore, featuring pictures during the Baltimore riots, and South/West Philly. A project that he continues to work on today is “The Project Series.”

“It’s my most personal series I’ve ever put out. It’s basically about being in a relationship that’s not going anywhere. One of the photos is a girl holding on to a bouquet of flowers; it’s about when you’re holding on to something that you know is going to burn you at the end of the day."

All of these projects can be seen on www.mattwolek.com