When he was 11 years old, Matthew Joseph realised that the best way to avoid being in family photos was to take them. From those earliest efforts with his dad’s 35mm film camera, via landscapes shot while walking near his home in the flat Norfolk countryside, to photographing planes on family trips to airshows, to the most recent assignment – a trip to California to shoot a campaign for a global tech brand – his passion for taking pictures has not dimmed.

He describes his style as “curated spontaneity”, capturing real moments of human interaction but in a distinct, pin-sharp and consciously composed way. It has developed in tandem with a lifetime of observing his surroundings, honing his people skills and embracing technological changes.

“I simply could not create the type of images that I now create without digital,” says Matthew. “I’ve always been about the content of an image and the people in it, but commercial clients can have so many requirements on their briefs, that the way I shoot now is to capture information. Sometimes, I’ll shoot over- or underexposed on purpose because I know what I will ultimately do with that file. I’m capturing digital information with a view to processing it after the event.” This method can only be successful with a solid understanding of the basics and Matthew feels fortunate for being the right age at the right time to gain a classical photographic education.

“Everything I first shot was on film,” he says, “no metadata, no digital files. As a teenager, I was making mistakes and getting each film back and I’d have to work out why something worked but something else didn’t. I wanted to get it right in the camera and even now, I don’t want to crop anything afterwards. Also, I can look at a situation and read the light because the light meter on my first camera was broken.”

Matthew’s breakthrough moment in terms of working with subjects came in his final year at school, when he knew he could do better than the yearbook photographer. “Maybe this sounds arrogant,” he says, “but I took in my digital compact camera and I was able to get something out of shooting my school friends that an older stranger couldn’t. I sold prints for a healthy profit and that was quite a turning point, for two reasons. Firstly, I realised I could figure out how to make money from a situation. Secondly, it was the start of me being able to get the best out of people on the day.”

Since then, he has grown to like everything the job entails. “I’d estimate that only about 20 per cent of my work is actually taking photos,” he notes. “The rest is finding the work, then all the meetings, emails and conference calls across different countries, then post-production and portfolio preparation. I very much operate in a commercial world and while I realise that a lot of people don’t enjoy the business side, I really do.”

In his early years, Matthew says he was a yes-man, shooting exactly what his clients told him to. Over time, with increased confidence came increased creative control. “There might be 30 people on a shoot and they’ve all got tough jobs to do, but when the sun doesn’t shine, I’m the one who has to deliver results,” he says. “Sometimes I have to tell the client, ‘Look, you’ve paid me to be here, so I’m going to at least tell you my opinion.’ Ideally, we all have fun, because everyone responds better to that. But then, there are times on the day when I need to put my foot down and command what needs to be done.”

Recently, Matthew has also taken greater control of how he comes across online, especially on Instagram, because that platform is the most valuable for him. “I’ve started to use Instagram more as my portfolio because I don’t think that people have time to go to personal websites any more,” he says. “I know that I don’t.

“I used to be very spontaneous by showing what I was up to on a given day and putting up a nice picture, because that’s social media, right? But now, whether I like it or not, my posts are more planned and curated because you’ve got two, maybe three swipes on your feed to impress someone, which means getting the message across sharpish in just three seconds and a handful of images.

“I wouldn’t say that I’ve got jobs directly from being on Instagram, but it definitely plays a part in direct marketing and it might be the final tick in the box that validates as being the right person for a job.”

Matthew’s ‘curated spontaneity’ style, which is likely the biggest factor in whether or not he gets hired, is in big demand. “We’re so bombarded by imagery that we definitely see through fakery and recognise authentic images,” he says. “What I think I’m good at it trying to find authentic human interactions and while that’s hard, I know I can do it. How I achieve that technically with a camera is one thing. But it’s really all about having a relationship with the subject, whether it’s a stranger I meet or a professional model I’m working with. Sometimes that means knowing when to put the camera down and have a break because, sooner or later, there will always be a real and spontaneous moment.”

A moment away from the camera on set is one thing, but away from work, Matthew is never without one. His personal work ranges from a long-term project at the Glastonbury music festival to portraits of strangers he meets on the street.

“I might have 20 seconds to get a photo before someone, say, gets on a train and other passengers wander into the frame,” Matthew says. “But I immediately know I want to shoot and that moment is still authentic. So, back on that train platform, I let the chaos happen around the subject. The trick for me is to combine the lifestyle element from the commercial work with the feel of my personal portraits, and if I can meld them together into one consistent look then – I hope – people with eventually recognise that look as being Matthew Joseph.”