Out of the shadows: Altoona photographer wins award from on-line pictures journal | News, Sports activities, Jobs

Matt Gindlesperger, 43, a member of the Altoona Zoning Hearing Board, was the 2025 recipient of the journal’s People’s Vote Award for avenue pictures for his portfolio of night time pictures taken in Altoona with a Samsung Galaxy S21 telephone.

“I’m not a full time photographer, nor a professional by any stretch,” Gindlesperger stated. “Just a guy with a cellphone and a hobby.”

In the narrative and an interview within the journal that accompany the collection that received the reFocus award, Gindlesperger and the journal’s editors level out that he’s drawn to {photograph} issues which are missed, forgotten, dismissed, discounted.

Seven occasions, “overlook” is used actually within the accompanying materials, whereas many different occasions, it’s implied or prompt with phrases like: “the in-betweens,” “what stays after dark,” “things that feel like they’re still holding on,” “little corners people pass by without looking,” “parts of the city that only reveal themselves when no one’s really watching,” “(the quality of) showing up even when nobody’s looking,” “forgotten corners,” “things that feel small but say a lot if you stop and look,” “moments that feel a little lonely,” “tucked under there, asleep,” “where nobody’s paying attention.”

Altoona After Dark avenue photographer Matt Gindlesperger’s images of late-night Altoona scenes like this one, have been featured by on-line
photograpy journal reFocus.
Courtesy photograph

In the middle-of-the-night darkish, when he takes his photos within the metropolis, issues are totally different, as a result of the “hustle and bustle of crowds” is gone, Gindlesperger stated in a latest telephone interview.

“I chase what stays after dark,” he informed reFocus.

The enchantment of such issues pertains to his childhood, he stated within the Mirror interview.

Gindlesperger went to St. Benedict’s Elementary School in Johnstown from kindergarten by eighth grade, after which for a 12 months to Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown.

“I was one of the kids in school who was picked on,” he stated. “(For) my hair and complexion, my upbringing — I’m not from an affluent family, and I was on scholarship to pay my tuition.”

This picture of Altoona’s Mishler Theatre at night time was among the many images taken by Matthew Gindlesperger that appeared within the on-line pictures journal reFocus.
Courtesy photograph

He’s the son of a white father and a Black mom, who raised him after his mother and father divorced when he was younger, he stated.

Perhaps due to the best way he was handled at school, he tended to “befriend folks that most people make fun of,” he stated.

“I was drawn to the outcasts,” and “didn’t want to follow the crowd,” he stated.

He transferred to Johnstown Vo-Tech for his remaining three years of highschool, and issues obtained higher.

“That is where I came out of my shell,” he stated. “I found out who I was — not so much what people had labeled me.”

This picture of an indication indicating downtown Altoona at night time was among the many images taken by Matthew Gindlesperger that appeared within the on-line pictures journal reFocus.
Courtesy photograph

At Vo-Tech, there have been “more darker complected folks,” to whom he hadn’t been uncovered a lot beforehand, he stated.

“They looked like me and acted like me,” he stated, and he was extra snug.

Despite his mom having raised him to talk his thoughts and to not cower earlier than the opinions of others, Gindlesperger stated he needed to overcome a private resistance to sharing his pictures.

“I was self-conscious how (they) would be viewed,” he stated, including he didn’t really feel like his work can be “up to snuff,” particularly given his lack {of professional} credentials {and professional} gear.

But household and pals inspired him, and he gave in to that persuasion, and “when I did, it kind of blew up unexpectedly,” he stated.

This picture of Altoona’s Texas Hot Dog Shop at night time was among the many images taken by Matthew Gindlesperger that appeared within the on-line pictures journal reFocus.
Courtesy photograph

The award hasn’t modified the best way he works or the best way he sees issues, though it has supplied validation, he stated.

He plans to maintain on taking photos, no matter future suggestions. “I do it for myself,” he stated.

He began taking the photographs of Altoona’s nightscape with out intending it to turn into a challenge, he informed reFocus.

It started as a technique to deal with seasonal melancholy and restlessness, he informed the journal.

That melancholy and restlessness stemmed from “the weight of my professional career” then, as an operations supervisor at a producing facility in Bedford County, the place he felt there have been unreasonable expectations he needed to meet, he informed the Mirror.

Out on the streets, he took pictures of “things I thought were cool,” he stated.

He wished viewers to see what he noticed and to make them “feel something,” he stated, and regards his pictures as artwork, like poems or songs.

“It carries the same amount of weight” by way of emotions or temper, he stated.

Gindlesperger is now operations supervisor for Leonardo DRS in Johnstown.

He has a enterprise diploma from the University of the People, an internet school.

reFocus payments itself as “a platform to find essentially the most distinctive visible professionals, artists, and trade leaders of our time.

It is designed to showcase the “artistic visions of our community first and to get our participants noticed,” based on the publication.

The awards bestowed by the journal are managed by Creative Resource Collective, which was “established in 2020 with the goals of providing resources, recognition, exposure, and community for photographers around the world,” based on the publication.

The journal’s panel of judges embrace representatives from ABC News, Phaedon Press, Shutterstock, Whistler Contemporary Gallery, Wired, Conde Nast Publications, Getty Images, GO Gallery, Gilman Contemporary, Ripple Effect Images, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Leica Gallery LA, Photoville, PhotoVisa, the Nikon School and National Geographic Society, based on the publication.

To view the unfold that accompanies Gindlesperger’s award, do an web seek for Gindlesperger Altoona After Dark or go to streetphotography

journal.com the place Altoona After Dark is at present on the second web page of the “Latest Articles” group. The direct hyperlink is

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.